Hola and Happy New Year!

Hola familia y amigos!!! I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas!!! It was so fun to talk to yall and hear your cute voices! And thank you to Alisa for finally writing me!!!! And to grandma and mom and dad! Unfortunately, Ty, Alena, and Angela did not get the memo…so yall better work on that real fast  K bueno! So I have no time again! Yikes! But ready for what it´s like in Paraguay at Christmas time?! Ha oh Paraguay..first we had to be in our house at 7 because after that it gets a lil crazy and they just celebrate with a MILLION LOUD FIREWORKS..it´s insane and then they turn their music up really loud. Ha it´s awesome. Oh and the other night there was a really bad thunderstorm at like 3 in the morning and I felt like we were going to die. It was like banging out bathroom door shut because there´s a lil window that´s open in there and the thunder and lightning was so so cool! I love thunderstorms. But Paraguayans hate the rain.Literally . They use it as an excuse for everything…like not coming to church. No bueno. Our numbers were really low this week but I´m so excited to get to work this next week and get all our numbers up again because last week was crazy with everything! Oh which reminds me Dec. 24th was my one month anniversary in Paraguay and Hna. Case´s one year! And we celebrated it with a wedding and a baptism! So awesome! What an awesome present! And whoever said baptizing in South America was easy was wrong… that is if you want legit converts. I love teaching these people about the gospel but I want to see the conversion process take place like it did with Emilio, Victor, and Gustavo and his family. I want them to love the gospel and understand what it means! Hna Case and I had a really good conversation about the gospel last night and how powerful and amazing it is. The last days are coming. And we are here in Paraguay in the last days with the calling to teach these people the word of God. Ah it´s such a great calling and what an amazing message we have been called to share. I really feel so so so blessed to be able to serve a mission. How awesome that all I have to do for a year and a half is share the message of eternal families, of the plan of salvation, of the restoration of Christ´s gospel on the earth again. How awesome that my relationship with God is growing stronger and stronger everyday and that I have the Spirit with me all the time! Yeah sometimes it is REALLY hot outside and the food is not my favorite..but I am in Paraguay! What in the world?! Ha it still blows my mind sometimes. What an amazing calling..to be a missionary. I love it. I love the gospel and I know that it´s true and knowing that just motivates me to learn Spanish because I want to be able to communicate with these people and tell them how the gospel has changed my life and has changed me and how infinite the Atonement is and how amazing prayer is…how amazing it is that we can have a PERSONAL relationship with God! Our creator, our Father. Wow..blows my mind! The Book of Mormon is true and it changes lives. I love it! I´m so stoked for 2010 and just a chance to make new goals and start afresh! Just a few funny things… Ok in Paraguay they eat MAYONAISE with EVERYTHING! Ha it is sick! I remember Karina..the girl I worked with from Boys and Girls Club in AF who is from Brazil used to do that..and I was like you are so gross! Ha but they really do use it on everything..yikes. And everyone here thinks it is hilarious that my last name is Nelson. Ha I never thought I would have a problem with my last name…but they think it is so funny and everyone tells me that I have the name of a man. And I´m like oh for the love it´s my apellido (last name) ha and they still look at me funny! Oh and we sing before we teach everyone..so that is a lot of times in one day and the best part is that the people NEVER sing with us, so it´s me and Hna. Case singing a duet…I just thought yall would appreciate that because you know how beautiful my voice is! Ha yeah no. And the bathrooms here..oh dear the bathrooms…first of all about 98% of the people we teach don´t really have bathrooms..they’re just lil outhouses that they have in their backyards…camping?! But all the other bathrooms you don’t flush your toilet paper! Haha yeah…the smells…yikes. Ok and yall are going to all appreciate this…remember how I said I´m gaining wait…I totally BROKE A CHAIR! Haha how embarrassing. We were sitting there waiting for a collectivo and I was on this lil crate thing and I was like oh man this feels like it´s about to break so I go to stand up and I totally fall right through it! Haha and then I go to stand up and it was stuck to my butt! Oh dear!!! Anyways I have no more time! But thank you Alisa and Skyler for your email and ADORABLE pictures! Loved them! And Happy Birthday Kylee!!!! That´s so fun that everyone will be there! Tell them all hi and give them all kisses and take pics and send them in the package  And tell the Bachelor´s, Berry´s, Dave, Keri, Chels (FINALLY), thanks for writing me! I´ll try to write them next week!! And also Becky Goodwin…I loved your email! You are amazing and you better keep them coming..and I want to know the whole story about you are your husband and all the craziness and how yall finally ended up together! I hope everyone has an AMAZING NEW YEARS! Wow 2010. Live it up! Love yall! Love, Hermanita Nelson

Feliz Navidad!!

Hola!!! Ok I have no time to write because we had a Christmas party this morning with our zone and watched Ice Age which would have been so cool if I knew Spanish lol but it was still fun and we had pizza..which was not really pizza. Lol oh man I have so many stories!!! First off, I am really sad because Emilio did not get baptized last week and he is not going to be for awhile because he is leaving for Christmas with his family! His mom said she wanted him to wait because this was such a big decisión. But I know he will get baptized so it is all good. Second off, I almost died this week! Literally died. I have never been so sick in my life! Ha it was hilarious…I don’t even know what I had but apparently I had a really high fever and I was talking to myself and throwing up everything I’ve ever eaten in my life! It was great. But I figure now I should be immune to anything else I eat so I’m all good! Oh and mom I want you to email me a copy of the Christmas letter! So here I am in Paraguay and it’s Christmas time but I feel like it’s the middle of the summer. Ha it’s super hot here right now and I sweat like nobody’s business…hopefully sweating off all the pounds that I eat during the day! There are a couple houses that have Christmas lights up and about half the people have trees..and when I say they have trees I mean they have those lil tiny trees. It’s awesome. And we have a tree too! It’s so cute, we bought it and decorated it and then Hna. Case’s mom sent us one too! And so all the cute lil wrapped presents you gave me are sitting under our cute lil tree! Oh and that’s so awesome that I know Hna. Case’s cousin, Chantelle! And tell her thanks for her dearelder! I remember her telling me that her cousin was in this misión and that her name was Amanda too! But I totally forgot about it until she said something! My comp is so awesome. Seriously I have been so blessed with companions! She is such a hard worker and it’s so awesome because she makes me work hard…like we never take breaks; we just walk and walk and walk which is so good for me because a lot of other companionships take breaks but I so want to be in the habit of just working hard all day! But we still have fun and she’s so cute! I love it! I don’t have any time to describe our cool investigators BUT right now we have 6 BAPTISMS planned for this week!!! What an amazing Christmas present to our Savior! I’m so excited for all of them! And their planned for before Christmas so I’ll be able to tell you about them on Friday. Pray for them!! I don’t think I’ve ever describe what Sunday mornings are like so I’m going to tell you real fast! Ha so first you leave the house way earlier than normal..like 6:30- 6:45ish and you go and find all the people you’ve talked to during the week that you’ve invited to church and if you’re lucky they’ll come with you..the thing is our area is HUGE so I don’t even know how many miles we walk in that hour and half we have before the collectivo comes to pick them up around 8ish! It is absolutely insane and by the time we get to church I am soaking wet in my own sweat. Ha oh the misión! But we only had 6 people yesterday which was sad because we were supposed to have a lot more than that. Next week! Oh and I was thinking since you said our ward has been talking a lot about missionaries lately they probably need to Start sending us PACKAGES! Tyler agrees! And they should probably put really good food in there because Paraguay does not have really good food lol. Just throwing that out there..:) And did Ty find a job at a mexican restaraunt yet? Haha and last thing before I leave…I don’t understand how I have been in Paraguay for a MONTH and have not received a single letter from any of my siblings!!! Just throwing that out there too. And I got Emily’s email and dearelder. Gracias!! And just tell her to just always send me emails because it takes about 2 or 3 weeks to get a dearelder. But I’m writing her a letter back today because I don’t have time toe mail her! Love,Hermanita Nelson

Hola!!

Ok so Emilio get´s baptized this weekend! Ah my heart is so happy! We were at his house a couple days ago and I was asking if he had talked to his mom about being baptized (which he hasn´t, I think he´s kinda scared because all of his family is Catholic) but he was telling us that he´s always tried to put God first in his life and he can´t deny the feelings that he felt and that he was going to get baptized no matter what. And a couple days before that he said his doubt with Joseph Smith just kept coming back and back and I was like, remember when we watched the movie and do you remember what you said after the movie? And he was like yeah, but... ha and I was like yeah, but NOTHING. I was like that was the Holy Ghost bearing witness to you of the truth (he´s shaking his head in agreement) and when God speaks to you, YOU LISTEN! ha hopefully I got the point across. I can´t wait to see him in white and hopefully I´ll be able to go through the temple with him in a year! He is so going places; he has so much potential! Ah the gospel is so true! And that´s the thing...this baptism is just setting the bar for the rest of the baptisms I´m going to have. Because there´s this problem in Paraguay where people just get baptized so they can feel good and to feel like they have religion in their life, but they don´t really understand the importance of baptism. It´s a COVENANT you´re making with God!! And a lot of missionaries were telling me that about a 1/3 or more of their baptisms are inactive now. NOT OK. I don´t want that. There are so many people in our ward who are inactive because they went to church 3 times and got baptized and then never came again. I want people like Emilio. People who really go through the conversion process and develop their own testimony of the church and understand how important baptism and the gospel is! I´m excited! I´m gonna be bold and declare testimony and change lives! How exciting, right?!

And right now we have two studs that we´re teaching and their following the Emilio path, which is so exciting! We have Victor, who is such a goof! I love the kid! I think he´s 17...I don´t know what planet this kid came from. He is always smiling and laughing, I love it! Ha and he always makes fun of my Spanish and how he can´t ever understand me, but he speaks Guarani half the time so I really can´t understand him! But he´s just a good kid who wants to change his life. And that´s the thing, he´s like Emilio..like we can trust him. If he says he´s going to church, then he comes to church. If he doesn´t do his reading, he will tell us honestly that he fell asleep while reading or whatever. Oh and he´s living with his uncle in their car. We came by to get him for the first time last Sunday and he came out of the car (from where he sleeps) and had this corny lil smile on his face and was ready to go. And yesterday he told us that he told his family about the church (and they live pretty far away) and they said they wanted to come. Ha he´s just a stud and he´s ready for the gospel and ready for the changes!

And then we have Christian who is also a stud. We met him a couple weeks ago when we were visiting a ward member and he was just sitting there in the background so I invited him to church and he said yeah he would come. And it was weird because he said yes and I actually believed him too. And then the next day he was there! He´s 16(seems a lot older) he´s been through A LOT in his life. Both his parents are in jail and his younger sister is taking care of all their younger siblings right now-and they live very far away. And right now he´s living with his real dad and their family. His step mom Christina was the one we were visiting with and she is so great! She faithfully comes to church every week and loves the Lord. Her husband (and his dad) is a drunk...even though he was baptized too (that´s what I meant when I said I wanted legit converts). So Christian is one that just is so ready for the truth too. He said he had been invited to church a lot before but he could never come because he always had to work but now he could come. Every time we teach him he just accepts everything and agrees with it and adds his two cents. He´s such a stud. And he wants to be baptized! BUT..remember his drunk dad...yeah his drunk dad freaked out at us the other night and told us that there was no way he was giving his son permission to get baptized and started trash talking the people in the church. So Hna Case was like well sometimes we just have to remember that the church is perfect but the people aren´t. And he was like yeah I know the book of mormon is true but there´s no way I´m letting my son into that church. Yeah apparently he never had a true conversion! Oh and then his dad said he was sending Christian back to where he was from (which is way far away) and so all weekend we were so sad because he wasn´t here anymore. And then yesterday morning we were going to the collectivo (bus) spot and there he was! Ahh and then we felt so bad because we hadn´t even invited him to come to church or anything but HE WAS THERE! All on his own..stud, right?! And last night he was like why do I have to have my dad´s permission to get baptized, I just want to get baptized. So we´re going to try and talk to his dad when he´s not drunk! Oh the mission! Oh and yesterday before church...we have a collectivo that comes by and picks everyone up to go to church for free..but it never showed up! Ha so Hna Case and I had to pay for everyone to go to church..yikes! Oh the experiences! Another reason why you need to come pick me up, so you can ride on collectivos with me!! :)

Oh and we had Zone Conference this week which was amazing! And then we had interviews with President Wade..love the Wade´s! And I asked him what I could to become a better missionary, so that I could be the best missionary I could be and always remember my mission and remember that I did everything I could do to serve the people and to serve God...and he said Be obedient (with exactness...and be obedient to all the little things..even though they seem small, they will make a difference!) , Work hard (give it your all!), and lastly have fun!!! He was like if you´re not having fun, you´re not doing something right! ha I was like ohh I like that. Ahh and Hermana Wade makes the best banana bread! One of my favorite foods in Paraguay along with cokitos (dried bread or something), popcorn!! Ahhh I love popcorn all of a sudden! And lomitos!!! Oh my goodness so good! They´re kinda like burritos but not at all, but like the closest thing they have to mexican food here and you can really only get good ones in Asuncion and we´re here today because Hna Case needed new shoes. And then EMPANADAS! With meat! Yummy! Another reason you need to come :) Oh and Elder Curtis says hi...I saw him at the zone conference and we had a nice lil chat! He´s changed so much! I love it! I just love studs. And Ty´s about to be such a stud missionary! Ah so excited for him!

Oh and I got Keri´s dearelder..gracias gracias! And you can tell people they can email me, it just has to be through you and I can email them back through you too.. I can´t wait to talk to yall again in a couple weeks!! Love yall so much and thanks for everything! And yall better start sending me more emails! ( I haven´t gotten anything from any of my siblings..what is this?!) Have a great week! Remember the gospel is so true and it changes lives!!

Love,
Hermanita Nelson

Hola from Paraguay!

This week has been so amazing! The gospel is so true! So I found out what it´s like to be in a thunderstorm in Paraguay..ha I love it! They have awesome thunder and lightning storms and it rains like crazy!!! But this past week we saw a double rainbow!!! So awesome right! I was like man something good is going to happen…and it did!!! So remember Emilio…ok he´s such a stud; one day yall are going to meet him! But we wanted to watch the Joseph Smith movie with him to help resolve his doubts and so we went on Wed. and his dvd player wouldn´t read it! So we came back the next day and he borrowed his friends and it worked! And we were watching it and it came to the first vision part and of course it´s scratched! We were like you´ve got to be kidding me! So we´re both praying like crazy and then it starts working again (few!) and then a lil while later someone starts clapping outside (ha another one of my favourite things in Paraguay..you don´t knock on doors you clap outside!!! It´s so funny!) so he paused it and then came back in and we watched the rest of the movie with a few more random scratches in the dvd (which is funny because we watched it again yesterday with a family and it worked perfectly! Satan is really working on him!) So after we just sat there and of course I was crying and holy cow, the Spirit was so strong! I literally felt like my chest was going to burst out!!! I couldn´t even breathe (and we know I already have a breathing problem lol) But then Hna Case shared her testimony with him and then it was my turn and I was like how in the world am I going to communicate with him what I want to say in Spanish?!!! And my head was just full of questions and thanks. Wow Joseph Smith suffered so much to bring to pass the restoration of the gospel and it´s thanks to him that we have the Book of Mormon, the most correct book in the world. And I was just overcome with gratitude and a feeling like, wow this is why I´m here. This is why I´m in Paraguay to share this true message with these people. And that´s what I told him with tears in my eyes; I said, ¨¨ Emilio, this is why I´m here, this is why I left my friends and family for a year a half to find people like you. The Lord loves you so much and I know that he wanted us to find you. I know that the gospel is true and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God. I am so excited for you because I know how much this will bless your life! And I know it won´t be easy and I know a lot of the times it will be hard, because sometimes people think we´re a little weird lol, but it´s so true so it doesn´t even matter. I´m so excited for you because I know this will bless your future family and your family right now.¨ And I was just praying that he would feel just a portion of the Spirit I was to know that it was true. And then we asked if we could pray. So we all got on our knees and he prayed and about half way through the prayer somebody knocked outside again!!! But he didn’t get up, he kept praying. And yes I was so crying during his prayer! And then after he came back into the room, I asked him how he felt and he said good. And then I asked him how he felt about Joseph Smith and he said, ¨¨I know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he restored Christ´s gospel to the earth and that we need a prophet on the earth today.¨ Ha I looked at Hna Case and I was like did he just say what I think he just said?! And she said yes. Oh my, I have never felt like that in my life… I was just sooo happy. So a long story short he is getting baptized Dec 18th!!! Thanks so much for your prayers! This work is so great! And then to make the week even better we finished it off with 9 people at church!!! I was so thankful!!! Last week we had 5 but only 2 were really from us and this week 8 of the 9 were from us! I know the Lord blesses us when we´re obedient. That was our goal last week to bring 8 people to church (because 8 is the minimum goal of people we´re supposed to have set by Pres.) and it happened! I know the Lord helps us and brings us success when we are obedient!!! Ha who would´ve thought I would have ever been excited about being obedient..ha I´m already turning weird! Love it!!! Ok I have no time but a couple other things…the two other things I forgot last week that makes a successful Paraguayan missionary is getting lice and biffing it (biffing it HARD) ha yikes! And a couple other things I love about Paraguay…everyone says a Dios when they see eachother ( meaning ´to God´) ha it´s so cool! And everyone BLARES their music..it´s hilarious. It is SO LOUD! And it´s so funny because most of it is American music!!! They can´t even understand it! And there are butterflies everywhere!! Love it! And now for a couple things I need (ha or want) some kind of energy pills because the sun kills all my energy and so does all the food they make you eat! And then some chocolate candy  And cookie mix ( the Betty Crocker 20 min kind)! Beautiful!! Perfect! K I love yall so much and can´t wait to talk to you this weekend and find out where Ty´s going!!! Woot woot! The gospel is true, live it! Love, Hermanita Nelson

First Week In Paraguay

Ha estoy en Paraguay!!! Can you believe it?! Wow ok..where do I start?? My area is Maramure which is in Luque. Ah and I finally found out who my compañera is! Hermana Case…she is so cute! She´s actually from Provo and she hits her year mark on Dec. 24th. I already love her and we are going to tear it up and have a white Christmas! Oh and my second day here I saw Tyler!! And he says hi to everyone. He is now the AP and probably will be for the rest of his mission. What a stud. It was fun to see him! Oh my goodness..so we packed our stuff in the taxi and left for our area (it´s probably like 30 min. outside of Asuncion) and when we were getting ready to leave to go work, I realized I forgot one of my suitcases! Ha I would do that lol. So I still haven´t gotten it back yet…hopefully tomorrow! Lol it has a lot of my study stuff in it. But it´s all good. Ok are you ready for a description of mi vida in Paraguay?! Haha it´s awesome! There are chickens and roosters and cows EVERYWHERE! It´s hilarious..they just roam everywhere..and then there are occasional pigs and goats. Oh and they have their horses and wagons if they don´t have cars and a lot of people just don´t have any transportation..so they´ve got buses! Oh man..that is an experience!! We ride a bus at least twice a day (to and from our area) and everyone just gets packed in the buses and the drivers are insane! Mom you would die. Haha you like step in the bus or out of the bus and before you get your other foot off or on they´re already driving away. It´s so fun!  Let´s see..yeah my feet are probably going to fall off because the roads are crazy..I´m so excited to take pictures and send them to yall! They don´t really believe in trash cans so the road is covered and there will be like shoes and soda cans buried in the rubble. It´s great. The sunsets are gorgeous!! And the people, oh my gosh the people are so AWESOME! They laugh at me every time I speak in Spanish..I think it´s hilarious. And I just laugh with them. The kids are so awesome, too! They make me so happy. They get so excited everytime they see you and they totally look like little Lamanitic children. The big problem in Paraguay I think is probably that they are just so chill, so when you invite them to be baptized, they´re just like sure, ¿por que no? But I don´t think they really understand what that means because after they get baptized a lot of them don´t even go to church anymore. Ha and they are such big fat liars…it´s hilarious! All these people told us they were coming to church and only 5 did! I need advice people!!! What kinds of things can I do to help them actually desire for themselves to do these things? I´d love to hear what yall think! Aver… oh my first day we were teaching this family (oh by the way you teach maybe 2 or 3 lessons a week inside somebody´s house)! Let me paint the scene for what it usually looks like; you go to their house and clap in the front and then the little kids come running up and invite you in (when I say in, I mean into the yard); and then they go and gather chairs! Ha I love the chairs because they´re all so old and cute! And man they are so polite and nice and offer you the best chairs and everything. Ok so back to the family; we sit down and this was my first lesson with kids and we sing ´I am a Child of God´ and it was so peaceful and there was a nice breeze and I almost just started bawling!!! It was just so tender and I was just looking at this family and their humble situation and I just fell in love! It was so cool! We´re teaching this kid named Emilio and he´s definitely the closest to being baptized. Man, he is such a stud!!! He´s 19 and he would just make such a good missionary! He´s having a lot of doubts about Joseph Smith, but he is like a golden investigator (meaning he really wants to know and learn and he´s reading the Book of Mormon by himself and has kept all the commitments). He said his friends told them if he got baptized they wouldn´t be his friends anymore and wouldn´t go to his baptism or anything. For him, he would have to sacrifice a lot. But man, this gospel is so true! And I just know he´s going to get it! I can see it in his eyes. And I just know that Satan is working on him because when Emilio is baptized he is going to make one amazing member of the church. Paraguay needs more people like him! I´m so excited for him! Ha oh I forgot to tell you about the food…oh man! Speaking of food, how was Thanksgiving?!!! Tell me everything! Ok so we usually get fed by members once a day and when I say fed I mean they top your plate with a ridiculous amount of food…think of how much you ate for Thanksgiving..yeah they put that much on your plate for lunch! Ha and that´s just for round one! Everyone keeps telling me my stomach is just going to grow because of how much you eat…and yeah you definitely don´t say no. You eat it all with a smile on your face even if you feel like you´re going to barf! And then when your done they look at you and smile and say do you want more and politely say no and then they smile again and add another huge amount of food on your plate!!! I wish I was exaggerating..but I´m dead serious. It´s hilarious. Yes, I´m going to gain weight! Yikes! And yes we walk A TON and yes it is a MILLION DEGREES outside. I sweat like you wouldn´t believe…ha it´s awesome. It´s definitely hard but I know that I´m supposed to be here and I love serving these people. Oh and everytime I show our family picture to them (the one we took when yall dropped me off at the MTC) they always think dad looks so young and that Alena is like 19. And then once they realize who I am in the picture they´re shocked lol because I look so different now! But they think I´m beautiful and I´ve never been whistled at so much in my life lol and they call me a Barbie..I´m gonna miss that when I go back to the states haha. Ok and one last thing that I learned yesterday. There are 5 things that make a successful missionary in Paraguay. 1. Being bit by a dog 2. Getting picque 3. Getting robbed …ok I can´t remember the rest lol..I´ll send those next week  Oh and yesterday we had church. It was great! We meet in the stake center and it´s really nice. I bore my testimony in Sacrament meeting (at least tried to in my best Spanish) and then Hna Case and I had to teach the gospel doctrine class (I guess that happens a lot because the teachers just don´t show up) ha that was fun…she taught most of it and I just shard a couple scriptures and stuff. They are really patient with me and my Spanish; it´s great. I don´t know how I´ll ever learn Spanish but I know I will so it´s all good! Ok my time is up! Love yall all so much!!! Have a great week and pray for me and the people of Paraguay!!! Oh and if you haven´t sent me a box yet please include a spray fan!!!! And also ped socks (but not the ones with the padding…just the regular black ones that come to the middle of your foot more in the front!) Gracias!Love, Hermanita Nelson

estoy en Paraguay!!!

ha i cant do any of the right symbols or capitalizations but im in paraguay!!! oh my goodness it is so beautiful! im already in love with it. ha its super humid pero esta bein. i love it. its so green and there are beautiful sunsets. sorry i couldnt call again but i had no money on my card. triste. but pdays are on mondays so thats when i can email yall! be excited. we find out who are companions are tomorrow and where we are going! we got in tonight and came to the wades house and ate dinner. love the food. love the wades. and now i have to go. a lot more details next week. love yall mucho! love,hermanita nelson

A Few MTC Pictures

Here are the last pictures Amanda sent us from the MTC. Sorry I didn't get these posted sooner.

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

Week 2 at the MTC

Hey yall!!! How's everybody doing?! This week has been super amazing!! It's already flying by and I just want it to slow down! I love the MTC!!! We have a blast all the time! I love having cinco hermanas en mi distrito! It's the best! We already have plans to room together when we come back home to BYU :) Crazy to think that I will continue to meet amazing hermanas y elders on this AMAZING journey! So conference! Oh man!! It was sooo cool watching it as a missionary! We all gathered in the gym and the Spirit was just so strong. It seemed like every talk was directed right towards me and it seemed like they all had to do with missionary work! One thing that I learned this week that es muy importante is teaching with the Spirit! Because in all honesty if we don't have the Spirit then how are the people we're teaching going to know that we're saying is la verdad?! We have a progressive investigator, Gabriel, who just happens to be a teacher that served in Paraguay so we were really excited to teach him! BUT the first time we taught him it was NO BUENO!! I think that Heavenly Father wanted us to humble ourselves because we really needed to learn that the Spirit has to be with us when we teach! And then all during conference and at devotionals and firesides and LGM's they talked about how having the Spirit is so important to the work! So I think I've learned my lesson! So right now I'm trying really hard to pray for the Spirit as I plan and as we teach! Our lessons are so much better when we have the Spirit guiding us! So a couple nights ago Hno. Stone (a member of the branch presidency) was talking to us after the Tuesday night devo. and he promised us that by March 1, 2010 we will be talking and thinking in Spanish only!!! As long as we do our part and give our all and trust in the Lord! How amazing is that!!! So I'm going to strive really hard to reach that! It would be so helpful and then I'd be able to learn Guarani and help the people even more! While he was talking to us he also randomly said, "Hermana Nelson, I know you were called exactly where you were supposed to be called because it's the first time in your life where you're going to feel tall." I was like haha oh thanks so much! Not exactly what I was expecting lol. Oh today I saw Sister Buchanan in the temple!!! Talk about amazing!!! I was soo excited to see her! The temple is so amazing!! I love going once a week and I'm really excited that we'll actually be able to go in Paraguay! Ha ok funny story (probably funnier if you were actually there but yeah..) so we were teaching this week in the TRC (where volunteers will come in and pretend like they're not members and they're supposed to stay in "pretend" character the whole time!) So we were getting ready to teach a guy named Spencer and then all of a sudden one of the workers came in and told us that we would also be teaching his long lost sister Vanessa! Oh Vanessa...she has only been a member for a couple of months and it was her first time at the TRC so she had no idea what she was supposed to do and had no idea she was supposed to not really be a member. haha so we were teaching the first principle and all of a sudden she's like oh my gosh I know that to be true..let me tell you my conversion story! Ha so for the next like 5 min she goes on about how she found the church (it was actually a really good story but sooo funny) oh! and then before that even happened we told them we were going to say a prayer to invite the Spirit and then at the end of the lesson we were going to have one of them say the prayer..so right as Hna. G is about to start saying the prayer Vanessa busts out in prayer in Spanish!! lol I almost peed my pants! It was hilarious! And then she says this beautiful prayer I'm sure..I couldn't really understand it but I bet it was great! So all through the lesson she would interrupt us and tell these stories about a principle we were teaching and she never caught on that she wasn't supposed to already be a member UNTIL the very end of the lesson, when I did the baptismal committment to Spencer..."Spencer as you read and pray for yourself to know that these things are true, will you follow the example of Jesus Christ and be baptized by someone holding the proper priesthood authority of God" and before he answered she looked at us and then looked at him and was like "WAIT, you're not a member?!!" lol it was hilarious! He looked at us apolegetically and then said yes I'll be baptized if it's true! Oh man it was hilarious. But what I did learn was how to teach with a member, which I'm sure I'll be doing all the time in the mission field so bueno! And she really did bring in a strong spirit when she was sharing personal stories about how she found out the truth for herself! And it was so cool to hear how her life had been changed because of the gospel and it makes me really excited to be a tool in the Lord's hands and help people come unto Christ! So Spanish is pretty good! I love learning it and I just wish like there was more time in a day...weird because I've never been as productive as I am in the MTC in one day ever in my life, but it still seems like I don't have enough time to ready and study from the BOM and PMG and everything else! It's all so good! I wish I had more time! Nuestro distrito is really coming along. We're a lot more united now and es muy divertido! I'm beginning to see the challenges of a trio but it's all good :) At the devotional Brother Banks shared a quote with us from President Hinckley that said, "I regard you as my companions in this work." How amazing is that! A prophet of God considers me a companion in this work! Ahh! And the work is good! Oh and there's been a couple times when the speakers have shared testimony of how we were called exactly where the Lord wanted us to be and how they really recieve revelation from the Lord on each individual! Brother Banks told a story about how he was there when they were going through each name and they had gone through a pile and then he told them to go back a couple names and then went on to say how he had messed up and the Lord wanted that person somewhere else! Ah Paraguay Asuncion North! I know and I knew from the first moment I saw where I was going that that is where I'm supposed to be! I'm so excited! There's a whole district of elders in my zone that are going there in a couple of weeks and they are all studs! I can't wait to meet the people and love them and share with them the gospel! And one thing I really want to do while I'm there is keep a high retention rate with the people I teach! I don't want them to fall away after a year! I'm going to really work hard on committing each member and helping them know and see how the gospel can truly bless their lives! I love the gospel and the changes I can already see it bringing into my own life! It's just soo good!! I love yall and miss yall but I'm ok with that now! The time is already flying by and I'll be back before you know it and then I'll just want to go back and visit all the time!!! lol ahh I got to go! I'm writing a letter home about family stuff so you should get that soon! Love yall love ya love!!! Miss ya too! Yall are the best family ever! Keep the letters coming :)
Love,
Hermana Nelson

E-mail from Amanda

First off Hermana Galbraith is my companion!!! Crazy huh?! Thank you Sister Curtis! I also have another companion, Hermana Miller! We're in a threesome :) It's kinda crazy sometimes but I feel like we're always having fun! It's awesome! We get along muy bueno! Hermana Miller is going to Puerto Rico and leaves to the DR MTC in two weeks so then it will just be me and Hna G. P.S. mom find her mom on the mission mom site or w/e. So there's 12 people in our district right now but 4 people are leaving in two weeks for the DR, so then it will just be 8! Crazy but I'm really excited to get really close to everyone. There's another companionship of hermanas in our district and they are super cute and I love everyone to death! Elder Sims (one of the elders I met on facebook) is also in my district and him and his comp are both going to Paraguay. The remaining 4 people that will be with us for the rest of the time are all going to Argentina Mendoza! We're the only heremanas in our whole zone and we're all in the same district..obviously our elders needed some hermanas to shape them up! They love us :) My branch president is Pres. Dickerson and he is AMAZING!!! He has the strongest testimony of the BOM and he is just inspiring! He makes me really excited to learn more! He doesn't speak any spanish besides beuno goodo..which isn't spanish for those of you who didn't know. I have dos maestros..Hermano Hellewell y Chandler. They are both pretty tyte but if I had a favorite it would probably by H.H. because he is a stud and makes learning really fun! We taught in the TRC the other day. We taught the first lesson to Hermano Gonzales and it was so LEGIT! The Spirit was so strong and he seemed like a real investigator! It was super exciting! I love all the letters and dearelders I get so KEEP THEM COMING!!! I love hearing about what's going on and I wish I had time to write back about every little thing, but I don't :( We went to the temple today and it was so fun! Please keep praying for me! It was so so so hard that first day but the Lord has really blessed me! Everyday just flies by but we do soo much! We've learned how to pray and bear testimony (thanks Skyler) and we memorized the purpose in English y Espanol and oh! Pres. Dickerson challenged us to commit people to baptism..so our districts goal was 40 for the week..well of course our companionship already has like 80 each..but I learned it in espanol so I'm going to try and beat the record before the time I leave (the record is 592 for a week) ha YIKES yo se! But it would be legit! And it's a great way to meet people! He challenged us to do that so we could get over our fear of commiting people to be baptized. FAITH NOT FEAR! ha it's exciting! I feel like I'm praying ALL OF THE TIME!!! It's great! I love being here because I am constantly feeling the spirit! But at the same time I'm having a BLAST! Hna G and I probably have to much fun sometimes! Everyone is finally being themselves so our district is a lot more united than it was the first week, we were kinda nervous, but now it's awesome! I laugh A LOT! In fact I've gotten the giggles so many times! They know me as the laugher and the crier..haha yeah. We have to do comp inventories where you tell eachother your strengths and weaknesses and they said that they loved my humor and how I'm always laughing and happy and how I just enjoy life. They also said I was great at bringing the Spirit into the lessons. I don't know about any of that but it made me feel good and it makes me want to be a better person! I love mis companeras y districto! Ok I have like no time and I'll try to send a couple pics but we'll see! PLEASE KEEP THE LETTERS COMING ALL THE TIME! I LOVE THEM!! 10 SEC..AHHH I LOVE YALL SO MUCH!!!

First Letter Home

We received a letter from Amanda yesterday...so here it is:

Dear Parentals!
Ah yesterday was the HARDEST day of my life! After y'all left I couldn't hold it together. I cried all day and I miss yall so much! I just don't feel up to the task, but I know why I'm here and I know I'm supposed to be here, so I'll be fine. I know this is going to be one of the hardest things in my life but also so rewarding. Please pary for me. Mom, the card you gave me was so perfect! But really don't worry about me, its great. They keep us so busy. But I know I can do hard things and I just have to keep telling myself that (smiley face). Right now I just need to be 100% dependant upon God and have total faith in Him. I love this work and the gospel. I've finally begun to LOVE learning! Its awesome! I wish I could call home for advice, but emails will have to work. Oh write me @ Dear Elder, my box # is 257 (put that on facebook...another smiley face) LOVE YALL SO MUCH & MISS YOU TO DEATH!
(heart) Hermana Nelson

At the MTC

Hermana Nelson's scheduled arrival time for the MTC was September 20, 1:15 pm. In true Nelson fashion we were cutting it close. Parking at the MTC on a Wednesday is at a premium. Bobby took Tyler and Kylee and Nate with him to a friends house and the rest of us drove to the MTC. Only one car can go through the official drive-thru so Ty and Alisa scrambled to find parking places around the MTC area and met us in the MTC parking lot. We still hadn't taken Hermana Nelson's photo for her missionary plaque so we quickly did that and then all stuffed ourselves into our car. It was a tight squeeze considering Hermana Nelson's luggage took up half the car. We only had about three minutes while the Elders took the luggage out of our car to snap a couple of photos and have some hugs good-bye. Maybe it is better that way. We love our sweet Hermana Nelson and can't wait to post her own words about this wonderful mission she is serving for our Savior.

The Last Supper

Before taking Amanda to the Provo MTC our family wanted to meet up for her "last supper". One of our family favorite hangouts is Chiles and so we met up at the Chiles in Orem, UT. Alisa and Nate came from St. George; Angela and Bobby, Tyler and Kylee from Logan and Ty from Ephraim. We all converged at Chile's around 11:45 on September 20. Amanda's check in time for the MTC was 1:15. It was fun just hanging out and goofing around with each other one last time. We tried (or at least I tried) not to think about the separation ahead and focused on just what an amazing family we have and how much fun we have together. Chile's must be a popular before MTC tradition because we saw several other families there enjoying their "last supper", too.

Setting Apart

This is Amanda's mom and I am setting up this blog of her missionary adventures for her. As I receive emails from her I will post them on this blog so you all can be kept up to date in Amanda's own words. For now I will write for her. Amanda was set apart as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 9:30 pm on Tuesday, September 19 by President Lyman of the Bloomington Hills Stake. It was such an amazing experience. Amanda is so excited to serve the people of Paraguay and to help bring them the happiness she knows through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We all appreciated the advice that President Lyman and Bishop Ott gave and the testimonies they bore. Amanda bore her own sweet testimony. I think you will be able to tell from the pictures the light that is in her countenance.