Nov. 22, 2010

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Bobby and Kimmy!!! FELICIDADES! Also I want to thank Becky Goodwin for writing me again, it was really good to hear from you and your letter made my day! Ok ¿sabe qué? This week I am going to complete ONE YEAR IN PARAGUAY!!!!!! That my friend, is crazy!!!! Oh I just love it here and ha I just keep walking around this area thinking, holy cow I´m in Paraguay! I remember that used to happen to me all the time when I first got here, I was like what in the world, how did I get here? haha but I love it! It´s so great. Ha I have a funny story for grandma and grandpa- the other day we were in a lesson with this less active family and I was showing them pictures of the fam and they saw grandpa an grandma and they were like we know them!! And they were so excited, and they were like who are they? And I was like haha those are mis abuelos, and they just went off about how they knew them because they had been in Paraguay before and had come to their house, and I was like ha I don´t think so, and they were like well if it wasn´t them it was someone who looks exactly like them! This cute lil lady who was so nice and her husband with white hair haha, I was like yeah well that sure does sound like them (by the way...I hope yall feel better, I´ll be praying for yall!) Also it is SO funny because all the people here call us elders because they are so used to having the elders here, so we told them, no we are not elders because those are the muchachos (boys), so then they started calling us las elderas (making that word feminine) ha it´s so funny, and we´re like no no we are hermanas! But there are still so many people who just call us elders, it makes me laugh and then they try to give us hand shakes-that´s weird! We´re like no, we KISS!!! Ha we give besos-oh man it´s going to be weird coming back home and having hand shakes be normal and not kissing people all the time haha. Oh and you know what else?! My shoes BROKE!!! I was not a happy camper, it´s those ones you sent me mom that are supposed to be really nice- and they are because everyone else here has the same exact ones and they still use them, but my strap things came off, like somehow the fish line came undone or something, I don´t even know, but I can´t even wear them anymore. So today we were in Asuncion and so I bought some new shoes that hopefully last me until the end, ha they better because they were expensive!!! Ok and so sad story, we only had 35 people in church yesterday (it rained so everyone used that as their excuse) ha and we only had 3 people in Relief Society-5 including us. Yeah we got a lot of work to do here! Oh and today we had an hna activity! It was fun! And we left last night and stayed in President´s house because we live far away and would´ve had to leave pretty early to get there in time, so that was fun! We got there and we made sandwiches and ate with Pres and Hna Madariaga and Hna Kimball also came, so it was fun. And then this morning we got up way early to make a huge breakfast (it was our activity for thanksgiving haha) and then all the hnas came and we ate and then watched a movie about the nativity. It was great! And mom, ¿sabe qué? we have this lil restaraunt in our area that just happens to sell pies (the only pies I have ever seen in Paraguay) and they just happen to sell pecan pie!!!!! I´m stoked, so we are going to buy a huge pie and some vanilla icecream for ourselves to eat for Thanksgiving! Alright I think that is all the news here! It´s going. We´re working, working, working. It´s so fun to just spread this restored gospel with everyone, even when they don´t understand the significance of everything. My testimony just grows and grows and my love for my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ just keeps expanding. It´s true! That´s so great. I love all the simple truths of the gospel. We have a true and living prophet here on the earth today, Thomas S Monson. The Book of Mormon-wow what a guia! It´s a guide! It has all that we ever need to know to have la felicidad (happiness) in our lives. It was written for us! Wow this work is good. Spread it people! I love yall! And Alisa, I love you and you are in my prayers constantly. I hope everyone has a good week! Love yall!

Nov. 16, 2010

Alrighty so this past week has been ABSOLUTELY CRAZY!!!! And I´m writing today (Tuesday) because yesterday we had this huge conference with Elder Foster from the seventy. Por eso no mas. Ah man, ok where to start?! Let´s just start with Wednesday night at 10:31 p.m. (bed time, right?) The phone rings...what? Presidente Madariaga...WHAT?! uh oh haha. So I answer the phone, and he says hermana I´m sorry for calling so late, but I just needed to tell you something. Ok... You and your companion are having a special change and you will be going to Ypacarai and you need to have all your stuff packed and ready to go on Friday morning........ I´m sorry what? I was like what in the world?! So we spent all the day Thursday going around and saying bye to everyone and showing the Elders our area. Oh and also the familia Zafra took us to lunch to Paulistas!!! I was SO excited! It´s like a Brazilian restaurant that has a ton of meat (like Tucanos) and I´ve wanted to go my whole mission and have never been, and that´s where you go your last night in Paraguay. So that was really nice of them. And we spent the rest of the day packing like crazy! Holy cow I have so much stuff!! Good thing I´m going to leave like everything here! And ok so the crazy part is, is that otra vez we are white washing an area! There were elders there before and they took them both out to put us in. So once again we don´t know anything. Lovely. And it´s crazy because there have NEVER been hermanas here! So we are the first hermanas! And our area is HUGE!!! I guess they had it divided at one time but then put it all together again because they weren´t having success. Every keeps telling us suerte when they hear where we´re at because apparently it is really hard. But whatever. It´s BEAUTIFUL! And I´m so excited. We have a lake in our area and it is so so so pretty! I´m so excited! And it´s just a rama (a branch) we meet for church in an old movie theater, it´s pretty sweet. Apparently the average of church attendance is 40ish but we had 51 on Sunday. And the Pres. told us there is over 1,000 members here. So basically there is 1,000 inactives. Lovely. I guess they all got baptized for almison. So we´ve got a project ahead of us. But it´s all good. Everyone is so nice and it reminds me of Luque! But it´s prettier! And we were given the impression that nobody was really happy that we were coming because they love the elders so much, but let´s be honest they love us. And with time they´ll love us even more :) A lot of people have actually told us they were really excited and that we are like angels, and I guess one of the elders investigators (Juana) had a dream that they were going to come to her house and their first visit together she just cried, but then she just felt like it wasn´t right and that it should be girls. And then we came, and she told us we were the answer to her prayers and a couple other people have said that, so it´s pretty cute. It´s all pretty overwhelming but I actually feel pretty calm. I don´t know how we are going to work this whole area, but it´s ok, we´ll just follow the Lord. And yeah I´ll probably be here til I die. And Pres told us me and my comp would probably be together for a really long time too, so she´ll probably end up killing me. Yikes! Crazy stuff! And the conference we had yesterday was really good too! And we live in a sweet house and we have AC!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am SO excited about that, because last summer I about died. So who knows what will happen this week. But it´ll be fun! Bueno I love yall and I hope things are better this week! Yall are in my prayers!

Hermana Nelson's feelings on the passing of Bro. Rick Ence

Wow, I agree with Ty. I can´t even explain how strongly I feel the love of God right now, for me and for all of yall. I have honestly been so strengthened in testimony as I have read and cried over your sweet words concerning Rick and the Ence family. My heart is with yall during this hard time. I just cried and cried more as I read, but at the same time, I felt the presence of our Father in Heaven so strongly. I admire yall and your strength and tesimonies. It´s incredible. I can´t even imagine how everyone must feel and I am so sorry, but know that yall will be in my prayers. Thank you for your faith and your examples, the Spirit of the Lord has touched me greatly. I really like what mom said about the conversation between Rick and God. I´m sure that Rick was strong enough and had enough will power to live and that´s why he kept coming back to life, but in the end he humbly accepted the will of our Father. We can´t possibly understand why, there are just things that happen in life that leave us questioning. But I know through the gospel of Jesus Christ we receive all the answers that we need, to move on with faith and endure to the end. We know that it was the will of the Lord that Rick passed away, we might not understand why-why him? why now? But we must trust in the Lord and go forward with faith. And how special it must be to know that he (Rick) will also be sharing the gospel message with the rest of our brothers and sisters who have not had the chance to hear it or who are having another opportunity to hear it again. What a marvelous work and a wonder. And to know that he will be working right along with his son Justin and soon to be Blake, and with everyone of us who understand our Heavenly Fathers plan and the importance of sharing it with others. Because that is the point. That is the purpose. And if we can understand and really know and comprehend that we are children of God and that He loves us, that is enough. Because it is His work to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of men. Eternal families-that is part of the plan. In fact that it is the center of the plan. What a blessing it is to have the gospel in our lives. Thank you for turning to the Lord and depending on Him. He is the one who can comfort you and bless you in this hard time, and He can help you see and understand the big picture. I love yall with all my heart and I am truly greatful for your strength. Yall will be in my prayers.
Love,
Hermanita Nelson

Nov. 8, 2010

Alrighty!! Ha I loved reading Ty's like past 2 emails, because that is exactly how it is here! So I know how you feel bud. Satan is working hard, but the gospel is true, our sides going to win, but times are getting crazy. And they are doing all these changes in the mission all over the world, and I LOVE IT! It's just showing you how serious this is, we are in the last days people! This message has got to be spread and we are the missionaries that are spreading it! Woot woot! And mom that girl, is the girl that is here, she ended up coming early because her spanish is so good, unless there is another girl that comes with that same exact name. Ok aver- this week my comp and I started our like music class! It is so cute! Ok la verdad is that I don't do anything- I take the pictures, but my comp is teaching people how to play the piano, and I'm learning too, it's great! We only had a couple people come, the idea is to get more investigators, so we'll see what happens! Ok and yesterday our fast and testimony meeting was amazing, I don't really know why, but the Spirit was so so strong! And I just about cried the whole way through it! And then our RS class was really good too! The teacher started the class with 2 questions. 1. What is the Book of Mormon? 2. What does the Book of Mormon mean to you? And the class was just full of testimonies and it was fabulous. It was so neat, because that is what we are teaching every day! So I'll just invite you to answer those questions for yourselves. But I also loved Ty's testimony about the Book of Mormon. It is the clave people! The keystone of our religion! And it was really cool because yesterday there was a kid in sacrament that I had never seen before so I went up and talked to him and turns out he is from a different area and he had been invited to church by a friend and so he came! His name is Diego and he's 20. And he just stuck with us through church and had so many questions and then we met with him at the temple after lunch and shared with him about the restoration and gave him a Book of Mormon. It was FABULOUS! He would not live in our area ha, but man it just felt good to teach! And to teach someone that was actually interested and excited! Here in our area we end up just teaching in the door because people don't let us in and if they do let us in they want us out as soon as possible and we haven't had any progressive investigators in a really long time (bueno we were looking at the history of this area over the last year and there have been 7 baptisms and only 1 is active and she goes because she works for a really active family). It's challenging to find people who actually want to listen. And yeah I'm sure that is how the state and europe missions are-tough! But bueno, so we just taught him and it was like the perfect lesson! He asked questions, we asked questions, we bore testimony and the Spirit was there! Gave him the invitation to be baptized-accepted with enthusiasm. Yeah, he is one of those golden people, unfortunately he doesn't live in our area, but it was just cool! He will definitely be a missionary! And it just made me excited and reminded me that YES, there are people out there, that are looking for the truth and that want to know the truth! Ha that is one of the first things he told us. I asked him why he had decided to come to church, and he was like well I'm looking for the true church. Beautiful. Ahhh. good stuff! I LOVE the gospel of Jesus Christ! It is true! In fact, the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church in the world! Y porque? Because it has la autoridad de Dios. Buenisimo! Sacerdocio, priesthood! We have a living prophet of God on the earth. Does life get better?! I love it love it love it! The mission is just the best. I love being here. I love all the experiences because you just learn and grow so much! Ha and that is what I need :) Alright I love all of yall! Thanks for all the letters!! Have a great week!


Love,


Hermanita Nelson

Nov. 1, 2010

Ok so this week, was better! Ha remember the story about me falling and my foot hurting? Well turns out I like twisted my ankle-smooth move I know. And so we were home all day Tuesday and Wednesday because I couldn't walk. Ha I looked ridiculous and it HURT so bad!!! I went to district meeting and my zone leaders sent us right back home. And then the family Zafra lent me some crutches to walk around the house- how embarrassing! Ha I looked like a joke. But now I'm fine, it still kinda hurts but it's fine. Oh and I got the package the Wariner's sent and I was so excited! Because they gave it to me at district meeting so it made me so happy despite all the pain I was in! And we've eaten almost all the candy and the pillow case is SO CUTE!! I'm so impressed!! And the St. George shirt is super cool too! And the lotion and stuff I loved! Thanks so much! I also got a lot of letters from my peeps in Luque that day, so it made me happy! Oh and if yall could please tell all the people who are getting married (ridiculous, who gets married? haha jk) to send me announcements! I want to see pics! Ok and that is all the time I have!! Oops! And can someone please tell me where October went? That was SO FAST! We are in November now! I hope everyone had a Happy Halloween! People here don't celebrate it- ha they don't know what they are missing out on, but I wore orange and black and ate candy all day, so I was good. And this week we should be having a baptism that we are super excited about (by the way, I always get super nervous to tell yall stuff because it always jinxes things), but hopefully it'll happen, if not this week, next week! Ok I love yall! thanks so much for your emails and support! Make it a great week!


love,


Hermanita Nelson


oh p.s. that one girl came that has family from texas, and hna g is training her in luque! I met her today and she is super cool and I told her that when I go back to Luque she can kill me there (be my last comp) so vamos a ver! love yall!

Oct. 25, 2010

HELLO!!! Ok so cambios- bueno, everyone got changed except for me and my comp! haha my poor comps, I think they have this curse, that si o si they have to be with me for more than 2 changes. Normally people are together, maximum 2 changes. I was with Remache for 4 (6 months) and now this is my 3rd with Messina (4 1/2 months) and we'll see what happens next change. Yikes!! La verdad is that I miss Luque, but I'm trying to stop comparing because that makes things worse. Let's just say that I think we broke the contact record of the mission. We contacted SO MANY PEOPLE this week and got rejected SO MANY TIMES! Ha that's a real good spirit booster. Man yesterday I almost had a break down, because we had been finding all day, because they were like yeah you should find on Sundays because that is when all the family is home and it'll be great, and we have almost 0 progressing investigators right now-- so sad I know (let's not even talk about how many people we passed for yesterday morning to go to church with us and how we got the most ridiculous excuses, ha I just had to keep telling myself- you can't force people, because all I really wanted to do was dragg them by their ears and be like, listen you'll thank me later. It's just sad because this is so IMPORTANT and there are so many BLESSINGS and then to just see how they are just rejecting the blessings...blah yeah) ok so we were out finding yesterday and we were excited because this is like the only part of are area we haven't contacted yet, so were like perfect, this'll be great! So after being rejected for about 2 or 3 hours straight, we got to this home and a young couple came out and they were so cute and looked so nice, and they actually came all the way out to the front gate to listen to us, perfect! So I did our lil shpill and asked if we could come in and share more, and he just looked me straight in the eye and said NO and ha I don't know why that affected me so bad (probably because I was so excited bc I thought that finally someone was going to let us in) and I almost just started crying, and I was like is it ok if we just pass by right here in front and share for a couple minutes, another NO with an explanation of how they were catholic and la di da. Yeah that is pretty much how our week went. Ha and at the end of the day we always do a list of 'gracias' and after one long day, we were just sitting thinking, and Hna Messina pops up and says, "Today was a great day! You know why? Because we talked to a million people and now they all know where the church is." Yep, that's my comp. Ha I started busting out laughing, yep that is exactly right. So we are planting seeds, but that's important too! And maybe, just maybe we'll find a seed that was already planted from other missionaries that is ready to harvest! like dad said, it's all just kinda a mental game. But we are in the greatest work that there is- we are proclaiming the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It doesn't get any better than this! Nobody ever said it would be easy, and I am learning that. But man I am learning so many great things that are going to help me for the rest of my life and hopefully yall are receiving blessings for my service too! And mom I loved the whole part about the baptism stories, but I don't have time right now, so I'll do that next week! Oh and this week I also got a retarted foot. I think I rolled my ankle, I was jumping on a wet surface and totally biffed it and now I just walk like a retard and it kinda hurts but yo tengo la culpa. Alright I hope yall have a great week, oh and a great Halloween!!! fUN FUN! Love yall!! Thanks so much for the emails and prayers and love, I need it! Love yall!

Oct. 18, 2010

Ok so basically this is what I have gathered when Ty was having a hard time, everything was fine here and we were having exito (success) and now that everything is going great with him (which by the way I am SO EXCITED about, that is so AWESOME and I'm always praying for ya bud) everything over here is like falling apart. I hate to say that, but it sure does feel like it! But don't worry we haven't lost any animo, we are just even more determined to go out and find the people that are just waiting for the gospel. We know that they are out there and we know that God will bless us. This week was a lil crazy and we missed almost 2 days of work all because of a stupid accident. Ha it's actually a really funny story. Last Monday for a zone activity we played soccer with the elders and my comp got kicked in the leg, ha apparently the elder was trying to kick the ball and missed and kicked her right in the shin. And that lil tiny bruise that was there the first day just turned HUGE and got worse and worse because she just kept walking on it, so pretty much when hna madariaga found out she dropped me the cane and made us stay home so she could rest it. I tried to tell her she had to rest it lol but she is just a guapa and wanted to keep working, so I tried to call a few people to find out what to do, but then a member made me call hna madariage and yeah. So my poor comp has been so frustrated bc she did not want to stay in the house when she wasn't even sick, but now it should all be better and we'll be fine. So that was kinda sad. And basically this week was just really challenging as well. We had so many rejections and none of the news we found want to progress, so we'll be starting to find more again this week. And all of our investigators that are suppossed to get baptized have been lying to us or just weird things have been happening and they are all falling apart. I'm not trying to make this sound like a really depressing email lol but that is just what has been going on here in Moroni. We had an Hna activity this morning and had an amazing american breakfast! Crepes and like this egg caserole deliciousness! Yeah food makes me happy. And then we had our last zone activity before changes and ate asado. Yummy! This week I've really been greatful for the opportunity to testify, to bear testimony like Ty. One night we found this one family and I was really excited that they let us in because it was like 8:30 and dark! And they had told us that they were catholic, but everyone says that..anyways so apparently his wife and their mother had died not to long ago. And man as we were testifying about the plan of salvation, the Spirit was SO STRONG! I don't know what got into me, but I just started crying and just sharing how beautiful God's plan is for us, His children. We can live with our families forever! Death cannot separate us! We can return to the presence of our Heavenly Father! It is all possible through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It was just so awesome to be able to share that truth with that family, that they would be able to see their wife and mother again and that they have the opportunity to live with her again as well. I loved bearing testimony and it just skyrocketed my testimony as well as I was sharing with them about these eternal truths. Unfortunately they didn't want to accept it (that just blows my mind) and rejected us, or rejected the message mejor dicho which made us share with them even more powerfully, but at the end they said they didn't want to hear more and didn't want us to come over again. Ahhh so sad. But asi es la mision. We are just waiting to find the people that do receive the message and recognize the Spirit and the truth, and that day will be wonderful! Ok I love yall so much! I am so thankful for your love, support and testimonies. This work is so important! We have something that EVERYONE needs, the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. Don't be afraid to share it! have a great week! Love yall!

Oct. 11, 2010

Ok WOW!!! I feel so thankful to have family and friends like yall! Sabe que?! Your emails were just exactly what I needed to receive this week! All of them. I loved TODO!! So thank you so much for your testimonies and faith and dedication to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Incredible. Ha so this week just kinda happened. We worked A FULL but didn't see much success, just one of those weeks. And just some of our progressing investigators are falling, oh and ha something else...about that apartment we were suppossed to move into and was absolutely perfect, just didn't work out. Pretty much everything was just a miracle and we were so excited and everyone was so excited that we found somewhere to live and everything, and then President decided he needed to look over the contract and make sure it was good. So apparently he made some changes on it, and when the Elder called to see what the lady was thinking, she told him that she had just decided to rent it to somebody else. Can you believe it?! So then we were in trouble because we didn't have anywhere to live, so we had to call and beg the familia Zafra again and they said it would be fine. So basically all day Wednesday we spent moving into our new place. Ha we barely fit all of our stuff in and a lot of stuff is just still in suitcases because we are still trying to find somewhere to live, ha and we don't really have a kitchen, well we do just minus a stove, which is fine no big deal. But we now have to viajar (travel) an hour into our area and leave at 8 every night so we can be home by 9, and yes we walk those hours haha it's great. Unfortantely colectivos don't pass by very often. So yeah.. oh my gosh and we found out we have cambios a week earlier. So now we'll be finding out on the 21st and switching the 22nd. Crazy! I don't know what's going to happen, I'm guessing we'll probably stay together. Oh and mom! You know that girl you told me that is coming? Well I don't know her, but I saw her picture about 2 months ago and I was like ahh she is so cute, I want to train her! So yeah that would be so awesome, so if anyone has anyway to contact her, just tell her to be so excited to come to Paraguay because it's the best mission in the world and that we are all praying for her and that any of the trainers would be awesome! But yeah that is so cool, and my zone leader right now, a girl from his ward is coming in like March or something. How fun! This really is just the best mission! I LOVE PARAGUAY! It is so great, ha it is crazy, but that is why you love it. I LOVE sharing the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with the people. Yeah it's sad that a veces they don't want to hear or live it, but when they use their agency to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ it is AMAZING! Miracles happen! I love it! Mom I LOVED your letter! All of it! INSPIRATION! And Angela too!!! Wow what an amazing family I have! And I'll just leave yall with a funny story, ok so we went out to the bajos this past week (this is like the poorest area of Paraguay) anyways we have an investigator out there, but he wasn't there so we shared with the daughter- ha and everytime we go over there the kids like hide from us, so we were excited that the daughter would share with us. Ha anyways so we had just got done introducing ourselves and singing and we explained all about prayer and then I started to say the prayer. So there we are sitting all tranquilo as I am praying and all of a sudden I get drenched with water! One of the little kids had come and ran outside and then sprayed water all over me as I was praying. Ha I just started busting out laughing during the prayer, my comp only got a lil wet because she was behind me lol haha who does that? Welcome to the bajos. Haha and now a story that you should probably not put on the blog...so we were at one of our other investigators house and we were sitting there talking and I was going to cross my legs and all of a sudden Matilde just started busting out laughing and said, TIENES SHORTS! (you have shorts on) haha but it was SO FUNNY, the way she said it and the look on her face (apparently she had seen my garments!) but she just couldn't stop laughing, and then her mom who is probably like 60ish was like well that's better because it won't show your underwear line haha. And then Matilde is like but it is SO HOT outside why would you wear shorts, ha I was like oh geez but it was just so funny and then they started calling my comp 'la gorda' (the fatty) ha she was so offended. I was like yeah that's just what they do here. Man it was so funny!. Ahh ok eso no mas. and mom for the christmas list, I don't know!!! That is so far away! I'll give you a couple things that you can get now, but don't send it yet! Ok trail mix, como siempre, those oreos you got me last year! So good! Oh and apparently there are these new pretzel m & m things that are so good! Hna Kimballs daughters brought them and I liked them a lot! And if you could just make me some Cmas cards that I can send out to people that would be AWESOME!!! They don't have to be super fancy or anything like that, just simple and easy to make. Oh and I'm going to need more tampons and contact solution and maybe a pack or two of make up remover wipes. Some lil candy canes, they don't have those here, and just a couple pair of socks, because I'll probably need some to finish the mish. And yeah eso no mas for right now, but i'm trying to think of a couple gifts I could send to my converts (so if you think of anything cute let me know). Ok I love yall! Thanks so much for everything! Have a great week! ANd P.s. Ty is always in my prayers, I promise I'll write you after I get home from the mish, but you know how it is with time here. Love ya!

Oh and also! I got the card from Gpa Dale and Laurie! Thanks so much for remembering me!