Mar. 28, 2011

Hola los estados unidos!!!! Alrighty, I have no time bc today was crazy, but I´ll give yall a lil somethin something. Ok so justamente on the 23rd (my official last day of my mission), I woke up feeling TERRIBLE. But woke up at the usual hour 6:30 to do our usual caminata- our lil walk around the neighborhood, and just about died and we had to turn around and come home early. But we continued with the usual and after studies I went and laid down a lil bit before we went out to work. Well the whole time we´re out working I just feel so terrible and weak and can´t breathe and yeah... to make a long story short, I almost blacked out on the colectivo and everyone on the colectivo was freaking out and the chofer wanted to drive us to the hospital- out of his route- to make sure I was ok. We´ll save that story for after the mission, but basically we got back home as soon as we could and I hit the bed and was out. I don´t know what happened to me, I´m pretty sure it was some bicho- a bug- because I had chivivi (I´ll explain after the mish) the whole time and couldn´t eat anything and felt like death for 2 days straight. Bleh. Hna Tuaone also got way worse with her cold and we were both so sick and so pathetic. It was so sad. And right now, I´m pretty sure I still have some kinda bug, but I´ll be fine. But I really feel so blessed because the Lord blessed us so much even though we were out of work for 2 days! We saw so many lil miracles, lil tender mercies. Juana-an old investigator who we haven´t seen or talked to in over a month, we decided to randomly go to her house and we were really nervous bc we didn´t know how it would go, but it turned out sooo good! Unfortunately she can´t fully progress right now because her husband won´t give her permission to go to church or anything, BUT she knows the Book of Mormon is true and she is so excited to go to conference and it was just great, I´ll explain the full story later. Another thing, for the first time EVER Graciela´s husband shared with us. It was incredible! A complete change of heart. I don´t know what happened! It was a miracle and he accepted a baptismal date. So cool! Also we have such an incredible investigator right now, Gisel, who is just SO prepared for the gospel and loves it and recieved an answer and is just so legit. She is the cutest and I am so excited for her and it is just such a joy to teach her! And then yesterday we had one of the COOLEST lessons I´ve ever had in my mission. The spirit was SO strong and everything just went SO smoothly, the Lord was just guiding everything! With this man that we contacted the week before, we found his house and taught him for the first time. It was just like the perfect lesson, everything you want an investigator to do. Ahh and as I was testifying about the Book of Mormon, he interrupted me, and he´s like I´m sorry but I just have to ask you a question. If you die right now, do you think you will be able to live with God? ANd I was like ah ojala (hopefully), and I was like I´ll tell you what. I don´t know what would happen, but I do know that I am in the right path. That the gospel of Jesus Christ is the answer. And that it is through a baptism with the authority, which is the first step to enter into the kingdom of God. And I know that this is the true church of God on the earth today, etc. And then he was like you just seem soo sure, I can tell that you know what you are saying is true. I want to feel like that and have that surety. I want to know too. Ahhhh... I was like perfect. And then we just went on to testify and invited him to be baptized. ANd he was like absolutely. And he is really excited about the conference as well. Ahhh I amm SOOOO excited about conference! And we are just make everyone sooo excited!!! I can´t wait!!! I know this week is going to be sooo awesome!! I love yall! Thank yall all so much for the emails! I don´t have time to write individual emails, but next week! And thanks Angela and Alisa for your blogs, chulina! ANd thanks grandma and pops and mom and alena and mamma wariner and emily and hna case and g and todos! Love yall! Have a great week!

Love,
Hermanita Nelson

Pictures

Here are some pictures Amanda sent home yesterday:

March 21, 2011

Ahhhhhhhhhhh man this week was SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO goooood!!!!!!!!!!!!! Even though both my comp and I got sick this week and almost died, pero por suerte it wasn´t dengue! I got some kinda bicho, bug in my stomach, and then a couple days later Tuaone got a cold or something and still getting over it, but we´re better now! Aver, so we had a BAPTISM! Ahh it felt soooo good, it´s been awhile. It was for Wildo, I´ll save the story for later, but it´s a good one! But it all went really well, a couple problems right at the beginning ha but we are in Paraguay so not a big deal. The church is true. We also had the conference with President and that went really well, always really inspiring, man we did so many practices, it was intense. But it was cool bc we did a practice with la hna Madariaga and the Spirit was just so strong and by the end we were all 3 crying, and she was like wow hermanas if you can bring the spirit in that strong during a practica, yall must be doing just fine out in the field. It was cute. And man, yesterday at church it was so random because so many of the inactive people we have been visiting forever just randomly decided to come to church! And I can´t even describe it but when I saw them walk through the doors, my heart just like melted because I was just so happy, and it like moved me to tears. Man, I just love these people and feel so special to be out here serving them. And it´s just soo cool because I know the work we are doing here is blessing this rama so much, which just makes me feel good. We get to be instruments in the Lords hands to help these people out. They are good people, they just need a lil help, and that´s what hermanas are for! Oh haha and we also had a birthday party for the relief society and it turned out to be really cute. There was just a couple of us there but it´s cool that they are celebrating all over the world! ANd let´s talk about how I officially finish my mission this Wednesday, my 18 months will be up! ha but don´t worry, I just take that extra 3 weeks as like a bonus. THere is still so much work to be done here and it is time to go out with a bang! And I know the Lord will bless us for our obedience and animo! No time to waste people, time to get serious. I love Paraguay. I love the mission. I love being a missionary. Life is good :) Oh and by the way, Angela and Alisa have got to be the cutest lil moms, that makes me excited to be a mom.. mas adelante. But all that stuff was so cute and I love seeing pictures of the kids. And mom what are rueben sliders? And I´m going to send a couple pics just incase yall forgot what I look like... ha probably a lil different then the last time yall saw me. Bueno I love yall! Have a great week! Be good!

Mar. 14, 2011

Ok a couple things, first, I can´t believe Ty is completing a YEAR in the mission!!! WOOT WOOT! That´s awesome bud! And so sweet you still have another year to tear it up! Second, yeah I definitely saw that picture of Payden, and said, ahh chulina! aka ahh payden, cute! That´s so awesome!!! I´m so excited for him! ANd chachi! Awesome. Good job boys! And Gpa Al, Happy Belated Birthday!! Other thing, remember how whenever I started to feel sick or whatever, I would always say I had cancer? Now, it´s dengue. Everyone in Paraguay has dengue. And all these missionaries keep getting it and they just sent us this huge warning and all these things we need to do to prevent getting it haha. Man so my comp and I are so scared of getting dengue. And like every area we go to, they will say something about someone having it. Ha pray for us. Also, I have some really AWESOME NEWS! Manu got his mission call this week!!! ANd he is going to Peru!! So awesome, and so I´m just praying that Emilio gets his before I leave!! But that is just so awesome that they are going to go and be missionaries! And this week was just so good. We worked a full. We like doubled our numbers from the week before and just finding and teaching and finding and teaching. It´s a blast. Oh and there was like a lil cold front that came in yesterday, so the weather is awesome, which makes it even greater to work in. Tomorrow and Wednesday we have a conference with President which should be really good. Man once again I have just been so humbled and so grateful for all the blessings I have. Mostly about family. Man, family is the best. Yall better be ready to just be with me all the time, because that is what is so important. It is so sad to see all the broken families here. It´s something completely normal, and every time it just breaks my heart. I never realized how blessed I really was. Ha thanks parents for being so awesome, and siblings for being so awesome. We have such a great family. What a blessing. Man that´s so awesome we´ll be able to live together forever if we just do our part here in this life. Family is part of the plan of God. The main part. It´ll be so fun starting my own lil family... mas adelante. But it´s so cute to see Angela and Alisa and their lil families. And to just see how they are living the gospel and teaching their children now. That is following a prophet. Man, I am so excited for conference! Ha everyone in Paraguay thinks it is the end of the world. All of the newspapers say it. After what happened in Japan, ahh soo sad. And we just keep pointing at our plaques and say estamos en los ultimos dias. We´re in the last days, the signs are everywhere. Repent! Ha ok maybe not exactly like that, but man the gospel is true and I am so thankful for a living prophet and for the scriptures. We have all the things we need to prepare! Ha oh and yesterday at church a member came up and asked me if I could give the sunday school class about 2 minutes before it started, I was like oh perfect no problem. Ha so I did. And it acutally went really well, it was really cool to see how the spirit guided the lesson, and someone gave a comment about what a privilege it is to be a member of this true church. And I just kept thinking about that. What a privilege, what a responsibility. Ahh and how privileged I feel to be a representative of Jesus Christ and to serve my Lord for this year and a half. Awesome. I love yall and am so thankful for your love and support. Have a great week! Be good!

Mar. 7, 2011

Alright...so first off CAMBIOS!!!! Ha no cambios, por suerte!!! I´m dying in Ypacarai with la hna Tuaóne!! I´m so excited!! There is SO MUCH work to do here and I love this special lil rama. And I am so grateful to be able to help them out a lil bit. Ohhhh and I got the package from the Wariners!!!!!!!! Thank you so much!!! Those oreo covered mint something were SOOOO GOOD! ANd I love chocolate! It was great! And I got letters from the Otts, chulina! And Hna Henderson that she sent in November... and the Batchelor´s! Thanks! Aver, so we found the cutest lil couple this week, Rafael, 62 and Tomasa, 50 and they just love us and love everything we say and are just so eager to learn more. It´s so fun! And we passed for them Sunday morning and unfortunately they couldn´t come to church, but she invited us over for lunch, which was AWESOME, because it was fast Sunday and all we had in the house were eggs (which we´ve been eating for the last 6 weeks), so it was nice for a lil change. And she made us this cute lil meal and it was so good and then we shared with her after. Anyways they are super cute and we´re excited to work with them. Our family didn´t come to church this week :( but they are still so cute and we have hopes for them. ANd basically we are just finding finding finding to find those people that are ready! Ahh and we had our mission prep class yesterday and it went really well. It was so fun! I think I want to be a seminary teacher. And church went really yesterday, a lot of people got up to share their testimonies and it was really cool. The mission is changing like crazy, we got a bunch of new rules again today. Exciting stuff. Too bad I´m leaving, which is why I just need to go work at the MTC! That would be awesome! THanks so much for your letters! I love hearing from yall! Oh p.s. Angela is so cute, all that stuff for Tyler´s bday was awesome. Bien hecho. I love yall! Have a great week! Oh p.s. Hna Case is OFFICIALLY ENGAGED!!! Woot woot! Alright Be good!!! Love yall!

Hermanita Nelson