Guess What?!

Hola!!!! Guess what, guess what, guess what?!!!! EMILIO GOT BAPTIZED!!! Ha I didn't want to tell you anything about it last week because I was afraid it would jinx it again lol! But the 30th de Enero he got baptized and received the Holy Ghost and priesthood yesterday at church! Can you believe it?! Por fin! It's been crazy! He's such a stud. It was funny because for the last couple of weeks he's just seemed like a member to me, because everytime we went to his house he would teach us something from what he had read. He's about half way done with the Book Of Mormon and it's so awesome to look through his book because he marks all the ones he likes and writes comments and questions. The kid is a stud. He wrote us a letter and just thanked us for bringing him the truth and he said he couldn't wait to be a part of ¨this great work of the Lord"and he told us he wants to go on a mission! He'll go. Man, I just can't get over it. It was so cute at his baptism because he was just so smiley the whole time! How awesome that I get to start off my mission with him. Hermana Case said he has been her best investigator by far and that he's been the most converted, but I'm gonna find more! Ah and I just love Paraguayo's. It's so cool because when they're converted they aren't afraid to share their testimony with anyone! In fact they love to share it with everyone and they're always testifying about how the gospel has changed their lives and made them so much happier and how they love the scriptures and the Lord. It's awesome! There's this kid named Manuel in our ward ( I can't remember if I've told you about him) but he's such a stud too. And he'll usually go with us once a week and help us out and everytime it just makes me want to be better and to be bold and to share with everyone the excitement of the gospel. But after the FHE last week Manu and Emilio were talking and I went up and told them to teach me. And the day before Emilio had his interview to be baptized and before that he shared a scripture with us. THe scripture is 2 Nephi 29:6-7 and he just shared how the scripture was kinda the trigger for his conversion. ANd how he had found it after having his doubts about Joseph Smith and everything, and that when he read that scripture it changed things for him and HE KNEW. Anyways, Manu said he would share a scripture (and I thought he was going to do one from 3 Nephi because he was telling me earlier that he was reading that) but no, instead he picked that SAME scripture Emilio had shared with us the day before and Emilio and I looked at each other and we were like no way! Ha it was awesome. But anyways, he read it and then told us why he liked it and then Emilio was like, can I share why I like it. So then he shared again why he liked it and then they asked me why I liked it. I don't know, it was just so cool sitting there talking about the scriptures and feeling the Spirit. I love the scriptures! I love that people can read the same scripture and like it for so many different reasons. It's so awesome! And then I had a vision! haha well...I just pictured myself teaching at the Provo MTC and then being there when Manu and Emilio came in to go on their missions! Ha can you imagine? THat would be so awesome! And Manu was only baptized like 8 months ago and they're both such studs. Oh how I love the gospel! Emilio's baptism was really good though. Nobody from his family came, which is something that I think is really hard for him because he knows how important the family is to the gospel. But his ward family was there. That's something that is so cool too. That the members here are so welcoming and they just love him. Love it. And after his baptism we had cake and things got a lil out of hand and somebody started a cake fight...I don't know who it was... but it was hilarious. Oh the mission! I love it. ha and have I told you that Paraguayoś are the biggest liars. It's actually really funny and they hide from you which is even funnier. That cute lady I told you about last week who was sitting out reading the pamphlet we gave her, HID from us this week. As in we see her sitting outside on her chair and we're walking towards her and we straight up see her get out of her chair and run to her door and go inside and lock it! Hilarious. Life can't get any better than this. And yesterday after we ate lunch (I don't know if I've ever told you that we live with 2 other hna's but we do and they're latin and they think they are so funny and call me witch all the time..shouldn't have taught them that word lol and I love them to death..anyways) so we were about ready to leave but I still had to go to the bathroom really bad but Hna Garcia had gotten up to go, so I'm thinking in my head, I have to beat her to the bathroom. SO I stand up and start running to the bathroom door and right when I got right in front of it, I BIFFED it SO HARD and fell right on my butt and knocked my knee and hip into the edge of the door on the way down. How embarrassing. ha I could barely walk after that but we all had the giggles so bad! Love it. Ah I'm pretty sure my time is up BUT I'm going to try and send some pictures!!! BE EXCITED! And thank you for everyone's emails this week...much better! And I don't have time to email back today, but I already have it all written down so I'll just do it quickly next week. Oh but tell Sis. Wariner and Chel that I did get their letters they sent in the mail the week before last (sorry I thought I already said that) and I wrote them back last Monday (letters) but I don't have any money to send them out yet. I'm broke! And also thanks Becky Goodwin because I just got her letter last week too and I love them! Keep them coming everyone! And Gpa Olson is in my prayers, poor guy! And oh my goodness!!! Nick had his farewell!!! I can't believe it. TIme flies by! What a stud. He's gonna be awesome! And I have a present for him so I'll need his MTC address so I can send it. Tell him to be excited. Love all yall and if anyone was planning on sending me a package or anything here are just a few things you could include if you wanted :) PICTURES...I am seriously lacking pictures from yall, ped socks (black), deodorant (dove), mascara and eyeliner, FOOD (cheeze itz, trail mix, kit kats, fruit snacks, koo laid...really anything AMERICAN)! ha love yall! love the gospel, love the mish. Pray for me! Make it an AWESOME week! Love, Hermanita Nelson

Finally posting...Sorry for the delay

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. Monday seems to be a jinx day for me and I've been sick for the past couple of Mondays and just didn't get the emails posted. I'm just going to get the one from today posted and will try to get the others posted later:

Hola familia y amigos! First off, wow it sounds like yall had a crazy week! I’m sorry to hear that Gary passed away and I can’t believe nobody called and told you! Luckily you were able to attend his funeral. Oh grandpa…he cracks me up! And I saw Angela’s pictures and I was so shocked when I saw the pictures of the snow. I had literally forgotten that it was so cold there. Time is so weird here! I don’t even know what the dates are..I know it’s January but it sure doesn’t seem like it. Weird! So this week some funny things happened. First, I totally got on the wrong collective. We were standing at the corner waiting to go and then Hna Case was like ok there’s one, so I’m like sweet and then I turn around to get on it and then I see Hna Case walking outside towards the back of the collective (because there’s a door at the back) so I just figured she was going to get on in the back..and then once I got on, I realized she had not gotten on and then started freaking out haha. So I’m like ah wait! And I got off and see her hopping on the collective right behind us. Que verguenza. So then I run to get on the other one and the driver was like, ha did you lose your lil friend? So embarrassing lol. And then later we almost got attacked by a big dog. I don’t know if I’ve ever told you that there are dogs EVERYWHERE! It’s hilarious and sad because they’re all about ready to die because they just eat whatever they can find. Anyways there were these dogs barking at us so we told them to stop and then all of a sudden we hear this dog running up behind us barking its head off and I just grabbed on Hna Case’s arm because I was so scared! But then we got away. Oh Paraguay! And then one day we had planned out our day and we’re going to our citas and everything and we had an appointment for this guy named Antolin for 5:00 but we ended up doing it a lot earlier in the day…anyways we went to pick up Victor because he was going to come and help us and we were waiting at his house for him to get home from work and this kid came in the gate. And we were like who is that? And we figured he was just passing through the backyard because people do that all the time, but then he came back to the front. So we asked him who he was and apparently he’s Justino’s nephew. So we’re like sweet and we were just sitting there, so I was like well we should probably just teach him while we’re waiting. Ha so we started singing and then start the lesson and Hna Case was like look at your schedule. And it was right around 5:00 and turns out that kid’s name was Antolin. Ha crazy! We were like apparently the Lord knew we were supposed to see you today! And then he came to church yesterday too! Oh how the Lord blesses us when we’re following our plans. Awesome. And also we saw this cute lil old lady a couple of weeks ago and I kept feeling like I should talk to her, but I didn’t. Fail, I know. But I just kept thinking about her and then somebody told us she was looking for us and wanted to talk to us. So we ended up finding her house a couple days ago and just stopped by and invited her to church and gave her a pamphlet because we had other citas, and then later we walked by again and it was so cute because she was just sitting out on her lil chair reading it. So we’re gonna see her tomorrow! She’s just the cutest little thing and I’m excited to start teaching her! Ok and I don’t have time to write Angela and Alisa back today, but they can wait  But I LOVED the pictures and I’m almost done reading Angela’s blogs! And I like that it’s going to email them straight to me. Perfect. And Alisa asked me about building up the kingdom of God..and I didn’t have very much time to think about it, but I had a couple ideas. I liked the ideas about the envelopes, but maybe you could even have them start thinking about their testimonies and helping them realized that first we need to build up our own ‘kingdoms’ because we are each daughters of a King, entonces we are all princesses of a loving Heavenly Father. As we begin to realize our own individual worth and understand our relationship with God we will have a greater desire to serve others. And then you could have them write a letter to the Lord. Tell them to write Him what they are willing to do for Him and what kinds of things they will give up to serve Him better. Help them realize that our testimonies of Jesus Christ and the gospel should be the foundation of our lives (Hel. 5:12) and that is the foundation that will help build the Kingdom of God. We can build up his kingdom by serving him, by being an example. We will show the Lord that we love Him through our actions. As people begin to see the love they have for the Lord through their example they will want to know Him(the Lord) because they know them. That probably didn’t make any sense, but it made sense in my head. Lol Ahh I gotta go! I love yall so much! Thanks for all the letters this week. Loved them! Have a great week! Pray for me so I can do the things I need to do to serve these people. Love, Hermanita Nelson

Felicidades!‏

Hola familia y amigos! Happy New Year!!! Ok can you believe that I will not step foot in the United States at all in 2010?! LOCO! Ha that's so crazy and I was thinking about that and then I thought man, I`m going to be talking about the year 2010 for the rest of my life! So I`ve been thinking a lot about what I am going to do to become that missionary I want to be and that God wants me to be. And let`s be honest the mission is hard. I don`t know exactly what I was expecting ha but it`s awesome. And I`ve just been thinking, you just gotta love it. You have to love the work, and love the people and love everything y despues you`ll be successful. ¿Verdad? We had some really cool experiences with finding people this week and teaching them and it was just fun. I love feeling the Spirit so strong and feeling God`s love for these people. A veces it`s hard because the people just straight up lie. But here`s what I decided. I know I`m in Paraguay for a reason. I know God called me here because there are people that I can help. I don`t want to have to pull people by the teeth in order to get them to come to church or baptize people when they don`t really understand what it means. To be baptized is a big deal! They are entering a covenant with God. I want to see these people after this life, I want to meet them at the tree. And I think a lot of it has to do with us as missionaries. Are we teaching them everything they need to know? Are they feeling the Spirit during each lesson and building a relationship with their Heavenly Father? I just know that there are people out there waiting and ready to hear and that just really motivates me to work harder and give it all I can. I love my companion. She is a guapa. And we decided that this week we are going to work harder than we ever have and I´m so excited. Ha sometimes it's hard when it's really hot outside and you`ve just eaten a thanksgiving feast for lunch but I know the Lord can bless me with the energy I need when I show him that I really want to serve Him. This work is awesome. Ha we`re gonna figure this out, and then we`re just going to take off. Watch out! The gospel is so true! And man have I told you how much I LOVE companion study? I think it's so awesome that Ty's studying with his friends because it will help so much. Ha and I should probably apologize because I was never really that big of a fan of family scripture study and always whined about it, but now oh man! I love reading the scriptures and just talking about them and hearing different opinions and how so many people can interpret one scripture so differently. It's so cool! So I can encourage yall to make family scripture study more effective, just become excited about the scriptures and just talk about each verse! Ah love it! Ha man it must be hard to be a parent. Because all you're trying to do is raise your kids in the right ways and hope they catch on. Ha and now I finally figured it out! Ha it only took 21 years. But thanks! Thanks for being the parents that raised us in the gospel and did family scripture study and prayer even when we didn't want to. Wow what a difference the LITTLE THINGS make! President Wade talked to us about that...be obedient to the little things and that makes the difference. It's so true. A couple things that we talked about in comp study that I want to share. We talked about the 'word of God' and that the word of God is found in the scriptures. And Hermana Case compared it to instruction manuals...in most everything you buy it comes with instructions or directions on how to use the product to be successful..even pop tart boxes come with directions. Anyways, we talked about how the scriptures are our instructions on how to receive eternal life. The word of God, the word of the prophets. And then I went through the scriptures and found different descriptions on how they described the word of God. I don`t have the list with me, but it was huge and it was so interesting on all the different descriptions. Do that too! And then I found a scripture that I really liked! 3 Nephi 28:20 ha read the whole chapter it's good and funny actually..it says 'they did smite the earth with the WORD OF GOD' and I was like YEAH.. that sounds good. I like that. That's what I want to do. Smite the earth. Ha love it. So don't even worry about me, I'll just be smiting the earth with the word of God. Aver so man who knew that I loved mangos so much. There are mango trees EVERYWHERE. Ha and can I just tell you that I love that I'm in a mission that when you ask people for directions they say 'you just past the fence and go for a while and it's just right by the big mango tree' ha hilarious. Because they only have street signs in the chu chi areas..which I am not in. So I'm all about picking fruit off of trees and eating it..and off the street for that manner. I've had so many mangos and manzanitas (these lil lil apples) and also coconut...different than I thought it would be...there are coconut trees and they're just in these balls and you crack them open with a rock and then you just eat them..it doesn't taste like coconut, it tastes like walnuts. Ok and so apparently tengo un bigote, look that up because it's embarrassing. haha so they put steroids in the food or something I don't even know and yeah wakala. And remind me to tell you all my experiences with bathrooms after the mission because wow...I think it beats camping. I love this mission. How awesome that I'm here. And a couple cool experiences from this week. So Hermana Case met this lady her first day with Hna Tsosie, so like two or 3 months ago and she met her in a jammed pack collectivo and gave her a pamphlet and told her a lil bit about the church and gave her our number. Well they never saw her or anything and then a couple weeks ago she called like out of the blue and said she saw us with her son and that they wanted us to come by. So we set up a time to see them like 3 or 4 different times and it never worked out. And then it just so happened that we had to go to the store and buy something..a store that we never go to..and then we had to wait for a collective in a spot that we never wait at..and then after about 20 min of waiting we decided to go even further to a spot where we have never waited and were randomly standing in the middle of the intersection trying to decide which collectivo to take and then there's this lady that starts talking to us and asks if we're the missionaries..anyways turns out she was Fatima (the lady) ha what the random, right? Such a miracle...and we saw her the other day ha and she's a guapa. She works all the time and hasn't been able to come to church, but the Lord will bless her and she'll be able to come. Wow the Lord really does help us and apparently we were supposed to teach her because the Lord just kept puting her in our path. Ha ok I have no more time! But thanks for all the emails!!! Alena and Ty it is about time! Keep them coming! I love hearing what's going on! And Ty that's so awesome that you went through the temple, I want to hear all about it! And Alena...omg I legitimately almost peed my pants when I read your 'funny story' I was reading it on a collectivo and everyone was looking at me like I was crazy because I was laughing so hard...ha but let's be honest it sounded legit. And Alena thanks for the pictures...yall are all such hotties! And thank you grandma for always writing...your temple experience must have been really special! Let's work on getting everyone in the family there! The gospel is so true! Have a great week! Enjoy the new year!! Love, Hermanita Nelson

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