Sept. 27, 2010

Oh my land!!! What happened to all the people in St. George?!! Holy Cow!!! Spring started this week in Paraguay, but yall are all in Utah!!! What in the world?! Like everyone is just getting married. Emily, you better just watch yourself lol. Nah, really I’m super excited for everyone on that HUGE long list of people that are going to get married this year! But that is CRAZY! This week was great as usual. We had a mission training and went over all the new things that are going on with the mission and like the 8 ynew lessons and it’s really exciting! My comp is a guapa and she totally has that MTC fire going on, so it’s great! She is just whipping me right into shape, and we are going to tear it up. Ha I feel like I’m in the states because we get rejected all the time here! Nobody lets us in. In Luque it was completely opposite, everyone let us in, you just clap at their door, say permiso and walk in and they love you. Here they have doorbells you have to ring or lil speaker phones in front of their house that they answer. Ha it is so weird. We have fun though. We just play the rejection game. We have gotten some pretty funny rejections. The other day we were passing by this HUGE house, and I was like ahh man, we are so going to contact this house and see what happens. And it had like 4 flights of stairs that went up to the front door, and I was like guaranteed they won’t even come down one flight to talk to us. Ha ok so this lady comes out, probably like 50ish and there we are, 2 cute lil American rubias (blondes) standing at the front of her gate smiling so big, so excited to share about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ (just picture this) so she comes out and says in her most pleasant voice, que dicen? (what do you say) ha and when I say pleasant, I really mean she seemed really annoyed. And so my sweet comp tells her we are representatives of Jesus Christ and that we have a message so special to share with her, ha and she throws her hands up in the air and says , No NO NO!! I am catholic, my family is catholic, my grandparents are catholic, blah blah blah. And so then I jump in and I’m like oh that is so perfect, because we share with everyone and we know that our message can bless your life (now remember she is like 4 flights up so we are like shouting) and she freaks out and just keeps throwing up her hands in the air and waving them no, and we just keep talking and invite her to conference and talk to her about the prophet y el evangelio restaraudo and she just plugs her ears and is telling us she doesn’t want to hear anything we have to say. Ha it was actually pretty funny. So then we leave and are just like laughing and there is this guy parked in a truck on the side of the road, and when we were contacting I had seen him come out and get into his car but I thought he had left, but apparently he had stayed. But he started asking us what the church is all about and that he wanted to learn more too (that he is catholic) but that he wanted to hear more about what we believed. So we gave him a nice lil run down and invited him to conference and he was pretty interested in that and said he wanted to go to a session and we are going to go back and visit him on Wednesday. But at the end, he was like man that lady really didn’t want to hear anything you had to say huh? It was pretty funny. But it was a nice lil milagro (miracle). The Lord really does just put people in your way. Keep praying that we will be able to find people. We found for like 4 hours straight the other day and only got into 1 house. Everyone else rejected us. Yikes! But we are working a full. And this week, I am SO EXCITED!!! On Thursday we go to the temple!!!! POR FIN!!! And then I’ll go once again in April right before conference and then the night before I leave. Oh my goodness that day is coming way to fast. I don’t like it. Do you know what?!!! I hit my year mark last Thursday! Can you believe I have been gone a full year?!! Crazy! Ha I don’t want to hear about any more marriages until I get home, everyone just needs to slow down lol. Ahh and then we have conference!!! I absolutely love conference! And we have just been showing everyone in Paraguay the picture of our prophet, Thomas S Monson and testifying like crazy. It is a blast! I’m hoping that we’ll have some good asistencia for conference. And I’m really hoping we’ll be able to see the Relief Society broadcast, here they have that on Saturday morning. For conference we all just meet at the stake center and usually all the members and latinos are in the sacrament room and all the Americans are in their own lil room watching in English on a lil tv. Haha last year it was a lot of fun! Ahh I’m so excited! And next Monday we move into our new place!! Crazy! Today Sis Kimball’s 3 daughters are coming to stay for about a week and it’ll be a lot of fun to get to know all of them! Alright I better go! Love yall so much! Have a great week!

Love,

Hermanita Nelson

Sept. 20, 2010

Ha CHISTE!!! Ok soo we didn't exactly find a house but we found a place we can stay until we can actually find a house! La familia Zafra (I think I've already told yall about them, we ate lunch at their house a couple weeks ago and the food was so good and they are American and he is here working) right...so they just happen to have this lil maids courters atras su casa, in the back of their house they have this lil place where their maid can stay but turns out she doesn't stay there so they have just been using it as a storage place. Well last Monday we went to their house to do our laundry and our internet and then that night Hna Zafra called me and was like, hey I was talking with my wife and we just wanted to offer yall the lil place behind our house if you can't find anything. So I was like sweet! And we were actually thinking about that like the week before but we didn't really want to ask them cause that's kinda awkward, so it was a real blessing that they offered. And then we told Hna Kimball what they said and she said she had been thinking that exact same thing too the week before and she was planning on asking them this week. So it was really just an answer to all of our prayers and all of yalls prayers (thanks so much!) and so this past week Hna Madariaga went over to check it all out to make sure we can live there and we got the check! So later today we are going over to clean it all out and we'll move in in like 2 weeks. We won't have like a kitchen really, but it will be just enough space for our beds and our desks and that is just perfect until we find another place. We're excited because the familia Zafra is AMAZING but we are really sad to leave Hna Kimball. Ok more good news, last Saturday we had Graciela's baptism!!! Ahh she is just the cutest and was so happy to FINALLY be baptized. She has always wanted to but we just wanted to make sure she was ready. Ah it was so cute and 2 of her kids came which was a really big deal because she wasn't expecting it and neither were we and it was great. Those crazy children were there, so that made things a lil stressful but Hna Messina played the piano again and it was FABULOUS. I love music! I'll have to send some pics (oh by the way, did yall send me another memory card in the package or no?) oh that package is just so great! We made the cake the other night and oh my land! It tasted so AMAZING! It tasted so AMERICAN, ha it was weird. Yummy!!! And all those SNACKS! Ahh who knew I would ever be so happy about getting FOOD for my birthday!! Hehe and we decided we are going to try to make the 7 layer dip...which means mom I need you to send me the exact detailed recipe when you get this and then to email me back right away and I'll check later. Ok? Perfect. Aver... Oh and also this past week Hna G and her 2 hijas (she stayed with them both for this change) they came and lived with us last tuesday until this morning because they got their electricity turned off haha because they hadn't paid their bills in like 3 months. Yikes. Ha so that was fun and crazy and I am still so tired, I have so much sleep to catch up on. Oh AND dun nu nu guess what?!! I found another Emilio, Manu, Alcides type guy!!! We are so excited! And just guess what his name is?! Yep, that is right, another Gustavo. Ridiculous! But he is the right one!!! And we just call him Gustavito. He's 19 and we found him as a contact...bueno we were clapping doors. The problem is he is only available on Saturday and Sundays. Lame. He is in the military so he's all into that and his studies and his work and he is just watching the house that we visit him at over the weekends. But he is a stud. We gave him a Book of Mormon and he's been reading and we invited him to be baptized for the 09 of October and he said yes (oh that was last Sunday and we were with Emilio and Manu) and so their all just good friends. And he came with us to church for the first time yesterday and he loved it of course and he asked where Emilio and Manu were and I told him they are from Luque so they go to a different church (and then I talked to Emilio after church and he asked how Gustavo was doing, ha it was funny) but that they are preparing to go on missions and that he can prepare with them. hehe. And then at church he asked me something about baptism but I didn't hear his question so I told him we'd pass by later and talk to him about it. Oh and apparently him and Graciela know eachother because they used to work together and it was funny because we were with her that morning to pick him up and they were like oh hey! So that's good lol. Anyways ok so we went there and he was like uh yeah so do I have to find white clothes to wear to my baptism or what? Ha I was like what a great question! Well for YOUR baptism... Ha I like how he put himself in that situation. So I'm excited to keep working with him. How cool! Another missionary boy. Love it! Ok oh and Alisa and Angela loved yalls blogs, the pictures are so cute! All the kids are so big!!! I can't believe it. Nate and Tyler are lil boys!! And Kylee oh my land! How did that happen!!! She was like a lil baby when I left and now she is just the most adorable lil girl!! Ahh I can't wait to come home and spoil them! Oh and Nick's email was hilarious! I loved it! thanks for sending that! Oh and question...who wants one of those cool leather scripture cases? I'm sure Skyler and Bobby know what they are if you don't know what I'm talking about. You can get like pictures of temples or Christ engraved on them. But if yall want them just tell me what size your scriptures are and what kind of picture you would want. Ok I think that is everything! I love yall so much! Thanks for the emails! Tell grandma I miss her emails, they need to get back already!! Have a great week!

Sept. 13, 2010

Happy Birthday to me! Happy Birthday to me!!! Man, can you believe it?! I am 22!!! HOly cow! And let me just go ahead and throw out a thanks to mamma wariner because she is the only one who told me I was still young, everyone else said they couldn't believe how OLD I was! Haha! wow so my first (and last) birthday in Paraguay!! Ha it was fun! The night before one of our investigators, Jose (who is like 45ish) bought me some alfajors (those are really a big deal here) and some juice and sang me happy birthday and then the next day for my bday we went to church, which was actually a disaster lol because we just had these crazy kids there and sacrament was oh so spiritual haha pero esta bein. Despues we went up stairs in the kitchen of the church and ate lots of cake! And then we went back to the house and Hna Kimball made roast and mashed potatoes for my birthday!!! It was SOO delicious!!! I was so excited, it's a good thing too because I missed out on that yummy chicken enchilada meal ayer! And then Emilio and Manu came out and worked with us all day! It was a blast. And then we came home and Hna Kimball made guacamole and ha I was telling them all about the 7 layer dip that you make! And then you wrote about that haha...next year for sure!! OH MY GOSH!!!! And that PACKAGE!!!! That was AMAZING! Ha I was SO EXCITED! Ha and so was my comp! All the candy is just about gone and ahh Alena I loved the photo colauge (ha yeah I can't figure out how to spell that) and all that FOOD! Yeah that was just the perfect thing...who knew I'd be so excited about getting food...oh and blasted, the cereal got broken, so that was all over the place and stale, but don't worry the rest is just PERFECT!!! I'm serious I could just go on and on about how much I LOVED IT!!!! And THANK YOU Sis Andersen for including that card and the food! Loved it! Oh and also this past week I got letters from Keri, Quickie Dickie, Flora (ha I LOVED the puzzle thing, that was so tyte!!! And yeah that took like 3 months to get here bc it got sent to the south mission- and ok Flora has got to be home now!!! Crazy!! ANd yeah I'll be waiting for another letter because I need your new address!) and the Bachelors (thank you- ha they are so awesome and their lil boy is so cute!) and from President Lyman! Oh and we got CAMBIOS!!!! I think we are going to start getting them on Monday's from now on, but I'm staying with my hija! We're happy! Pretty much everyone stayed together. Oh man and we still DON'T have a house! I don't know what we're going to do! This past week-let's see... well last monday we had an hermana activity and we went to mercado 4, which is kinda a big deal because nobody ever gets permission to go there...ha but I know how to work it hehe. And I bought a couple hammocks that are way sweet! And then Tuesday we went out to lunch with Hna Sherwood (who is another missionary that works in the temple and I guess she always takes the missionaries out to eat on the first Tuesday of every month) and we went to this really nice...like way nice seafood place, who woulda thought there'd be good seafood in Paraguay but I ate clams for the first time, ahh and shrimp is so good too! Oh and then today we went to Pizza Hut and there ended up being a ton of missionaries there, so we had a lil party and it was so fun to see everyone! This past week was actually pretty rough, I had a couple emotional break downs because Satan is just working a full on this area! We had some really AWESOME investigators (a family, who I had just come to love SO MUCH and who are just so perfect for the gospel and we've had family home evenings with them for the last 2 Mondays and they just went fabulous! THe first one we talked all about the family and they just loved it and then last week, we had a family from the ward come with us and we went to the church and just gave them like a tour- because they've never gone before-bueno, the mom has never gone before, so the point was so that she could go and see that it was amazing and feel the spirit and everything, but she ended up not even coming because she was sick...so sad! We wanted her to come so bad! But the kids just loved it! My comp played the piano and we sang and they just loved all of it and then we walked around the temple and everything was just perfect! And they all told us how excited they were to come to church with us) And then we passed by their house like on Wednesday to see how they all were, and their mom came out to talk to us and was super blunt and just said, look- we appreciate all you've done for us, but we are catholic and we aren't going to listen to yall anymore and we are not going to go to church with yall, and my kids are going to a catholic school and that is how we are going to raise our family and we are not going to go to the mormon church that has polygamy and blah blah blah. Basically, I just started crying. Ahh and I did NOT want to, but it just absolutely broke my heart. How is that possible? Ahh I don't understand but maybe one day later on they'll accept it and they will remember us and our love for them. I cleared things up with her misconceptions of the church and just bore my testimony and told them that we loved them. She apologized and she said she really loved us too but that she had told us from day 1 that she was catholic but she accepted us because she needed us in that moment but that now she was fine. Ugh. And then later we had another crazy lesson and I just bawled again. wooo, but now I'm 22 and everything is better! A new cambio! Whoo! Bueno, I love yall and am so greatful for all your letters and the package and the birthday wishes! Oh my gosh and I saw Nate's video!!! I almost cried! That was the CUTEST! Give him such big hugs and kisses for me! I love yall all so much! Have a great week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HERMANITA NELSON!!!!!!!!!

*I just had to post something about Amanda's birthday today. If you happen to be glancing at her blog maybe you can send her feliz cumpleanos greetings!

Sept. 6, 2010

Ok first off...wow TY is such a STUD MUFFIN! wow!!! those pics were great! I was so excited to see him! He looks so good! And yeah he has definetly got that light in his eyes! Chulina! Ha you got that picture of me and my mission parents..I don't really remember what I looked like..yikes! Ahhh I'm turning 22!! Oh man I'm going to be an old maid when I get back...ha jk I don't care. Ahh and I'm so excited you gave me permission to open my package but I think I might just wait til Sunday...ha we'll see how long that lasts. Ok so we had Luis' baptism and it was so beautiful! Ha I actually felt like I was in the states for a second.. members actually came and my wonderful companion played this beautiful piece on the piano and the lil talks were great and after the baptism Luis bore his testimony and it was just so cute and then he wanted me to get up and share mine which made me almost cry. Ahhh I was so excited for him! I just kept looking at him and realizing how much I loved him. He is just this big ole teddy bear, it is so great! And then the next day we went to his house to see how he was doing and he was just so happy. And after his baptism he just kept smiling and it was the cutest thing! And then while we were at his house and he offered the prayer and it was so sweet. He thanked God for being a Mormon. haha he is so excited to be a member of the church! And then he just told us how much he loved us and how greatful he was for the gospel and bringing it to him and helping him out. I'm telling you...times like that make everything else worth it! He told us something but I can't remember exactly how he phrased it...but he said I wish I would've met yall earlier so I could've had this gospel in my life. He has changed so much. He still has a long way to go, as do the rest of us, but that's where that perseverar hasta el fin (endure to the end) comes in. Ahh and I have to tell you about this family we found. Ha so Saturday we put time to find in before lunch. So we were just going around and we were in a really rich part of our area, like everyone has these huge gates in front of their houses so you can't see in and then they have a speaker in front. So you have to ring the speaker and then talk to the people...and let me just tell you what usually happens. You ring it, they say, que dice? you tell them your missionaries and you have a message about Jesus Christ you want to share and they tell you, no sorry we just work here and we aren't allowed to leave the property. LIke all these rich people have these lil servant people and they aren't allowed to open the doors or anything for security purposes. And if the person who actually owns the house answers they tell you they are catholic or are busy or w/e. ok so after being rejected for a good hour or so, I was like alright we have to make it a meta (a goal) to get in one of these big houses contacting through a speaker! So like 30 min of rejections later we got to this house and my comp contacted through the speaker and a man answered. Now that is just weird because they are always women. But she told him who we were and he said well I'm really religios, Catholic Ramonic...i don't even know, some really catholic religion that like every person in Asuncion is a part of...but he said, I have your church's bible and I'll come outside real fast and saludarle (like say hello). Sweet! ha so he comes outside and he's like 35ish and he just starts speaking to us in English. Ha it was great!! He speaks like fluent, I guess he studied in the states, but he was so cool. And he let us come in and we met 2 of his kids and his wife, who just all happen to speak english too! the kids look american and they are so cool and so cute! and their house is so HUGE!!! and so NICE! ha it was so fun! so he wanted us to talk to them in english so they could practice. ha it was so weird! talking no...but teaching was really hard! I kept going in and out of spanish and english...ha I think the lessons sound better in spanish..it just sounded weird in English. But they were a lot of fun and I guess their oldest son (who we didn't meet) went to the same school as the Wade's boys. Anyways we are going to start teaching them and I'm excited. They are pretty in to their religion (he pretty much believes the Bible is EVERYTHING and there isn't anything else) but he told us he is really open to listen and he said if God touches him, then he'll follow that answer. So he is open and he is going to read the Book of Mormon, and this will be their first time meeting with the missionaries. woot woot! and they just so happen to live on the same street as the temple and the church. It's perfect. The gospel is perfect. I'm stoked. Then yesterday we ate lunch with the familia Zafra. They are in our ward and are from the states. Bueno the dad is from Peru and the mom from Mexico but they have lived in the states like all their lives and he works for the embassy. But this weekend was just weird because it felt like I was in the states or something. They cooked us an amazing meal and we had american brownies!!! SOOO GOOD! It was a great week! The time is just flying. Every week we are just finding and finding...searching through the weeds. But it is fun. And this Sunday is my birthday! woot woot! And then next week we have CAMBIOS!!!! That is crazy! Man time flies. I'm pretty sure I'll stay with my hija. She's a guapa and her spanish is AMAZING...lol it is better than mine, so she has made it really easy to train. Another great week! I love the mission! Ha the familia Zafra..well the parents told us to tell their daughter why she should go on a mission. ANd I was like, the mission is the best thing in the world! Ah it really is! Bueno, I needed the mission. It has changed my life. I just keep learning and growing. It is incredible. THings that you wouldn't ever learn in any other way. I am so so so thankful to be a missionary and to have this opportunity to serve my Heavenly Father. Yeah for sure there are hard times, but it is so worth it! Love it! Love yall! Have a great week!