HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!!! (On Wednesday) and HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM (Sunday) and HAPPY FATHERS DAY!!!! (To all the dads)! And give Gpa Bill a HUGE HUG when you see him for me and tell him I love him and I hope he is still reading my emails. And whoever else you see from over there, tell them I love them! Oh man and I can’t believe dad is turning 50!!!! FIFTY!!! Holy cow!!! But don’t worry because everyone here in Paraguay things you look like your 35; lol seriously they all see your Picture and they’re like JOVENCITO!!! So you’re doing good!! And it sounded like everything was so fun in Logan with all the girls and the kids! I hope yall took lots of cute pictures so I can see them! And speaking of kids… I am still waiting for some kind of announcement from one of my sisters that they are pregnant! Get on that por favor. Ok so this week we had our last interviews with Pres. Wade! Que triste. Ha and mine was interrupted from a call coming from SALT Lake City UTA lol… one of the elders dad in my zone was calling to talk to pres. wade because apparently his son got robbed at gun point so the dad was freaking out, ha and it was really funny because pres wade was totally tranquilo (chill) and was like yeah that happens all the time. I’m sure in the status it might sem. Like a big deal, but here we just come to expect it. And then alter he hung up…he was like so Hna Nelson have you been robbed yet? YET?! Lol real nice. No not yet. Ha welcome to Paraguay. Don’t worry, I am completely fine and have only felt endangered maybe one time and that wasn’t even a big deal. Ha just continue to keep me in your prayers J Oh and today we got to watch the olymics because Paraguay played against Italia! We were so excited, because we never get permission for things like that, but Paraguay ended up tying…lame. 1 to 1. But it was still fun and kinda made me miss american football. Ok and I have to tell you about this family real quick. We found this one lady named Maria a long time ago (like it’s been 2 months) and we contacted her one day and we’ve gone back probably like 4 times, but she is never there, but her kids are always there (there are 8 of them). Anyways, so we went there on Friday and she was there, so we shared with her and a couple of her kids and it was fine, and we invited them to church but she said she couldn’t go because she had to work, but that her kids could go. So we went by the next day to verificar, but she wasn’t there and the oldest daughter (15 years old) had left too and so it was us with all the rest of the kids (the oldest of them I think has 12 years) and their house is just a disaster…bueno I don’t know about the inside but the outside is just a disaster. There are just these huge piles of dirty, moldy clothes everywhere and random dirty dishes in every corner and the kids are just dirty. LIke honestly, painted with dirt…and I’m sure they go dayS without bathing, because their mom doesn’t do it, so it’s just left up to the kids if they want to bathe themselves or not. ANyways we decided to do a lil servicio and help them out a lil bit and spent a good while washing, SCRUBBING all their dishes because they were just covered in left over food and then we decided we should help bathe the kids to get them ready to go to church the next day. And let me just explain this to you…you know like buckets we use to wash the car or something? That’s what they use to bathe. They fill the bucket with water (cold of course, because there is no hot water) undress the kid, wet them down, put some shampoo and conditioner in their hair, wash it out, wash their bodies with a scrub (ok no, they don’t use scrubs, it’s usually like another piece of clothing and wash them). Can you believe this is real life? So Hna Remache spent a good time washing these kids down, scrubbing all the dirt of their bodies. And then they didn’t have any clothes to put them in, so they just put them back into their dirty clothes that they’ve been using for like the past 3 days. It is so so sad. I almost just started to cry just thinking about their lives and how sad it is that they actually live like that and they just don’t know any different. But the next day we went by to take them to church and all the kids went with us menos one of the lil boys because he went to a friends house to watch the game. And they are actually all really well behaved and are just the cutest things in the World and most of them really liked church. And turns out Hna Rojas (we eat at the familia Rojas house every Sunday for lunch and they are just the coolest, humblest, most loving family in all of Paraguay) is the school teacher of a lot of the kids and so she was so excited they were there and was just welcoming them and loving them. And then she invited all 7 of the lil kids over to eat with us. And we ate chicken and potato salad and I almost just cried otra vez because I’m sure that is the biggest meal they’ve had in a really long time and just thinking of the generosity of Hna Rojas. Wow. I want to be someone like that. Her love just radiates along with everyone else in their family. Ah and just to think that the gospel is the ONLY way to have a better life for them. That is the key to a better life. Ahh I love the gospel and how really it has the power to change people’s lives for the better and to bring happiness and to really understand the love of the Savior. Incredible. I love yall so much! THanks for the emails!!! Have a great week!!!
Love,
Hermanita Nelson
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
June 7, 2010
Ok so first off!!!! Grandma, I finally got your package!!!!!! And I was SO SO EXCITED! It was perfect. Seriously. Thanks so so much!!! It's already almost gone lol. And ok ready for a funny story. Bueno, so as a missionary in Paraguay you have to have the 5 things to be successful. Well i've got 2 down. One of them is...you have to biff it really hard and another is have lice. Yeah I'm pretty sure I have lice, but that is completely normal here. People will just sit out in their front yards and pick lice out of each others hair..you think I'm joking. I'm not. And then the other day.. bueno they have a lot of like barb wired fences that you have to like crawl through to get to the other side. So we were leaving our lunch cita the other day and we were going throught the backyard through the fence thing. So I'm like bending over to adjust everything (my bag, my skirt, my jacket) and I'm like half way through the other side and I'm starting to stand up but somehow my skirt got stuck on the wire and I completely fell over and flashed everyone around me. AWESOME. And then a couple days later we were in a part of our area that we've never really been before and we were trying to find our way back to the routa and my comp handed me the phone to talk to someone, so I was just following her and talking on the phone. And up comes another barbed wire fence but there was like a door in this one, and so my comp had just passed through the puerta and I'm following her, but then all of a sudden my forehead runs right into the top of the barbed wire fence and I like shoot backward. Ah it hurt so bad!!! Oh and it was the night of the baptism..and so I had this huge red mark right in the middle of my forehead which later turned into a nice blue/green bruise. Real cute. Haha gotta love it. Lol not a big fan of these barbed wire fences. Oh and today I made boiled cookies (no bake cookies) and they turned out soo good! Maybe it's just cause I've been in Paraguay to long, but I thought they were really good! Thanks for the recipe Alena. And then this week has been pretty interesting; we've had a couple different experiences with pastors from different religions. So remember last Sunday night when we were at Belens house and as we started to teach her, her pastor shows up. And how at the end of the lesson he just asked us how much it cost for a Book of Mormon! So we gave him the book and invited him to read and pray about it. That's pastor number 1. Later this week we were contacting and we met this man who told us he was a saint and that he was already saved. And we're like perfect, can we come in and talk about the palabra de Dios and he's like yeah yeah, do you have your Bibles? Oops..no. So instead of course we brought out the Book of Mormon and this guy just went absurd on us and telling us how we couldn't have that kind of book in his house and just went off about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith and all this “false doctrine” that we are teaching and told us we should go home and burn our books and then to go around and tell all the people what we had been teaching them was false. This makes me cringe just writing this. But it was unbelievable how strong the Spirit was in me, just burning inside me, testifying how true the gospel really is. And after listening to this guy ramble off for like 30 min on us about how wrong and childish and innocent we are, my testimony was being strengthened! And I just felt so much sorrow and pain for this man who is just so confused! And just hoping that he could open his heart just a little to receive this beautiful and pure message of the gospel. And as we tried to testify (between him and his other pastor friend interrupting us) I just knew once again how true this gospel is! So that's pastor 2 and 3. And then last night we went over to Belen's house otra vez and otra vez her pastor came. I don't know if we need to go at a different time or if we were there at that time for a reason lol. But this time he was different. We started to read from the BOM again and he tried to prove us wrong with quoting scriptures from the Bible, etc. And ahhh I am just PRAYING that something that we said will ring to them. Especially for Belen and her mom, they are looking for the truth! They want to find it and now they have the confusion from their pastor. But once again we bore simple and powerful testimony of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and how they could know for themselves too. Isn't that just amazing? Wow the power of prayer. God is the same. He loves us. He will answer the prayer of those who are sincere and are truly seeking for an answer and are commited to follow the answer they receive. And he's the only person with the whole truth. He is the fountain of all righteousness. James 1:5. Ask God if you have a fault of sabiduría (ok I can't think of it in english). But wow please pray for them. And wow I just feel SO BLESSED to be raised in a family with the gospel. Amazing! Love it. And we have our last interviews with Pres. Wade tomorrow! How sad!!! Oh and the zone conference was amazing as always and sad because it was their last one. And we only have 2 more weeks of this cambio! Crazy! Ha I still don't want to leave this area. Ok bueno, I love yall! Thanks for all the letters, keep them coming! Oh and Alisa's dog is so cute!!! And mom and Alena give Tyler and Kylee lots of kisses when yall go see them...and Bobby and Angela tambien. Mom I'll be thinking about the birthday package and let you know. Love yall so much! Ah and send Ty my love! He's such a stud. Have fun!!!
Love,
Hermanita Nelson
Love,
Hermanita Nelson
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Another great week in Paraguay!
Hey Hey!!! Ok another great week in Paraguay! Gotta love it. So sorry I’m writing so late! We went to Arregua again today for a zone activity! It was a lot of fun! We played some serious soccer and now I am so sore! But I scored 2 goals…that’s right…so it’s all good. Ah and tomorrow we have zone conference which I’m really excited about, but I’m really sad because it’s the last one we’ll be having with President and Hermana Wade… but I’m secretly hoping we get the whole mission together and have a huge conference antes they leave!!! Ah and yesterday Emilio got his patriarchal blessing along with Manu and Rafa. Ahh I was so so excited for him. How cool is that?!! And on Saturday we had a baptism!!! We’ve been working with this girl named Leticia who’s 22 (lol but tells everyone she’s 19…ha she is hilarious) for like the last 3+ months…antes Alcides. But she was always really nervous to commit to baptism because she felt like she didn’t know enough and couldn’t go to church every Sunday because she has to work. Her parents are menos activos (inactive) and we went to her house with Hna Case but never met Leticia and her mom, Rufina wasn’t always all that excited to let us come in and usually said “otro dia” but then after awhile she started letting us in..and we just kinda clicked. Ha she is so funny! She has the best facial expressions (which I love of course) and it’s just really fun to joke with her and she actually ended up going to church with Hna Case and I once or twice and before that she hadn’t been for over 7 months and probably more than that. Anyways one day Hna Remache and I went over to visit her on a Sunday night and her daughter, Leticia, was outside cleaning and she talked to us first and was like hey can I come to church with yall….UH YES YOU CAN…and ever since that we have been teaching her. Lol Leticia is hilarious too, I’ve never met anyone like her in my life; she kills me. We had to teach everything really simply with her for her to understand and feel confident in her knowledge of the principles of the gospel, and then all of a sudden she decided she was ready to be baptized and was just so excited about it and of course so were we! And it’s always funny because in church she’s always participating and she just loves it. And I’m really excited because Rufina has been coming back to church with her and I told RUfina the other day that I wanted to see her with her whole family at church before I leave…I gave her 3 weeks. So that’s our goal. It’s exciting! Ah and that other girl we were teaching, Belen… we went over there and she wasn’t home!! But we went again on Sunday and she was sleeping but her mom was there so we decided to teach her. Her mom is legit. I’m actually really excited for this family! They are so looking for the gospel, even if they might not know it yet. But it’s just awesome because their family is united and happy and complete lol…and there aren’t many of those in Paraguay. Falta the gospel no mas. Ok so we started teaching about the Plan of Salvation and our proposito (purpose) in life and it was all going really great until this man pulls up on a moto…and she tells us it’s her pastor from her other religion that always comes over to read the Bible with her. Lovely. Ha so he comes up and we just continue teaching lol. It was actually really awesome for me. I felt the Spirit so strong and like everyone was listening and attentive (which is not normal either…there’s usually distractions or if it’s a pastor, he is usually bashing us with questions and trying to argue about why our religion is wrong or cualquier cosa) and I just started to testify…testify about the restored gospel of our Savior Jesus Christ upon the earth today, and how we have a Prophet, Thomas S. Monson who guides us through revelation, and we have 12 apostles and the same organization of the church as when Jesus Christ came and organized it, and how we have the priesthood authority of God on the earth today…God is the same yesterday, today, tomorrow, and forever. He loves us and has blessed us with his gospel so that we can return to live with Him and with our families para siempre (forever). And how we have the Book of Mormon to help us find the correct path back to God, our Heavenly Father. Wow the Spirit was just there. And after we both got done testifying we asked if they had questions and the pastor said he just had one… Yikes!! And then he asked how much we were selling the Book of Mormon for. Wow. It’s free, handed it over and invited them both to pray to God about the things we had taught them and about the Book of Mormon and they both said they would. Ha crazy. Gotta love it. Ah I just love this gospel!!! Are yall doing the little things? All the primary answers… reading your scriptures daily, praying, going to all your church meetings, etc. I love the mission because it has opened my eyes! Ha I finally really understand why we’ve been taught that over and over our whole lives. That’s the key! If we’re not doing the lil things we’re not progressing…we’re allowing ourselves to fall. And how would we like to fall short of the kingdom of God because we failed to do the lil things. Yikes. Keep yourselves close to God and on high ground. Stand in holy places. Yall are always in my prayers. Love yall! Have a great week!!!
Love,
Hermanita Nelson
Love,
Hermanita Nelson
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
May 24, 2010
**Note- There is a new address for the mission office where we send her mail***
Hello!!! ok first of all CONGRATULATIONS TO TAYLOR AND SAM!!! That's sooo exciting! I always feel the spirit so strong when I read someone's mission call! And I want Sam's and Hilary's addresses! Ok so I have like no time to write! This week was good. We found this girl the other week that i'm really excited about teaching. She's like 19 and she's with a different religion right now but she's really just looking for the truth in her life. The problem is that she is only home on Saturdays because she works and has school all the rest of the week. So we went there for the 2nd time on Saturday and shared lesson one with her. It was awesome. The spirit was really strong. And after I asked her if she wanted to know if the Book of Mormon was true and she said yes and I asked her why. And she basically said that if there really is a true church out there she wants to be a part of it. she's really awesome, and I'm praying that she's another Emilio or Alcides. That's what we're looking for, los escogidos. The chosen ones. Hahaha oh my gosh! And I LOVED Ty's email!!! haha let him know I am praying for him all the time. Speaking of crazy people, I got proposed again this week...I think if this keeps happening I'm going to start taking pictures of these men and after the mish we'll take a poll of which one I should marry. Haha chiste. Ok something I do want to share before I leave is that yesterday we had a class in church about the importance de la obra misional...missionary work. And it was funny because before the class in sacrament meeting, while i took the sacrament that is all I was thinking about. I was just feeling so overwhelmed with gratitude that I have this opportunity to be a missionary because my eyes have really been opened. All my life I have known that the church is true but now I understand why it is so important to know that and how important it is to share that knowledge with everyone! It makes me excited! Thanks mom for sending me the copy of the first vision, it really opened my eyes otra vez. How powerful that simple statement is. "...I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other---This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" JS History 1:16-17 From this statement we know that God and Christ are two separate beings. That they live. That they love us. That God answers prayers. That the heavens once again are opened. That we can receive personal revelation. That the church has been restored on the earth again. That Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, called of God to bring to pass the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That we have the priesthood authority on the earth today and a living prophet; Thomas S. Monson. Wow the gospel is so true! Love it! Love yall! Spread this message! Have a great week!
Love, Hermanita Nelson
Hello!!! ok first of all CONGRATULATIONS TO TAYLOR AND SAM!!! That's sooo exciting! I always feel the spirit so strong when I read someone's mission call! And I want Sam's and Hilary's addresses! Ok so I have like no time to write! This week was good. We found this girl the other week that i'm really excited about teaching. She's like 19 and she's with a different religion right now but she's really just looking for the truth in her life. The problem is that she is only home on Saturdays because she works and has school all the rest of the week. So we went there for the 2nd time on Saturday and shared lesson one with her. It was awesome. The spirit was really strong. And after I asked her if she wanted to know if the Book of Mormon was true and she said yes and I asked her why. And she basically said that if there really is a true church out there she wants to be a part of it. she's really awesome, and I'm praying that she's another Emilio or Alcides. That's what we're looking for, los escogidos. The chosen ones. Hahaha oh my gosh! And I LOVED Ty's email!!! haha let him know I am praying for him all the time. Speaking of crazy people, I got proposed again this week...I think if this keeps happening I'm going to start taking pictures of these men and after the mish we'll take a poll of which one I should marry. Haha chiste. Ok something I do want to share before I leave is that yesterday we had a class in church about the importance de la obra misional...missionary work. And it was funny because before the class in sacrament meeting, while i took the sacrament that is all I was thinking about. I was just feeling so overwhelmed with gratitude that I have this opportunity to be a missionary because my eyes have really been opened. All my life I have known that the church is true but now I understand why it is so important to know that and how important it is to share that knowledge with everyone! It makes me excited! Thanks mom for sending me the copy of the first vision, it really opened my eyes otra vez. How powerful that simple statement is. "...I saw a pillar of light exactly over my head above the brightness of the sun, which descended gradually until it fell upon me. It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound. When the light rested upon me I saw two Personages, whose brightness and glory defy all description, standing above me in the air. One of them spake unto me, calling me by name and said, pointing to the other---This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!" JS History 1:16-17 From this statement we know that God and Christ are two separate beings. That they live. That they love us. That God answers prayers. That the heavens once again are opened. That we can receive personal revelation. That the church has been restored on the earth again. That Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, called of God to bring to pass the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That we have the priesthood authority on the earth today and a living prophet; Thomas S. Monson. Wow the gospel is so true! Love it! Love yall! Spread this message! Have a great week!
Love, Hermanita Nelson
May17, 2010
*Sorry this got behind all...sometimes I think I've posted when I haven't...yikes the old brain is going!
What's up?!!! Ok so are yall so excited to hear about what happened at changes?!! Ha well guess what?! There is not much to tell because we did not have changes, I'm still with my comp in the same area...which means this is my 3rd change with her (4 ½ months) and my 5th change in this area (7 ½ months). CRAZY ¿verdad? Wow oh AND Hna G (my comp from the MTC that I LOVE moved into our house and is now senior comp with Hna Garcia) What a guapa! She's so awesome and her Spanish is incredible. And I am so so thankful that we get to live together...maybe one day we'll be comps again! So I was also able to go to Hna Case's despedida (farewell) because it was in our area, so I met her parents and everything. So fun! Ah they just reminded me of our family! Ha a lil trunky...yall will have to meet them too! Oh man and last week I forgot to tell you, I almost died. Like literally. We were in Asuncion for a zone activity and most of the streets are just like one way..and we were going to cross the street and we were like joggin across and then all of a sudden I hear my comp gasp and I'm like what in the world, so I turn to face her and she is to my left and I see this car coming straight towards me and I like jerked to a stop and the car passed right in front of me (like half of a foot). It like scared me sooo bad! And then there were these elders that saw it happen and they were like I don't know how you're alive. Real nice, right? That's called being a missionary..ha we have angels guarding us. Ha I thought yall might appreciate that story. Oh and I almost forgot!! I got mom's package! Woot woot I was so excited because it has been cold and rainy all day yesterday and today! Which means I should be getting grandmas in the next couple weeks! Perfect! Oh another story... the other day we were walking in the routa (the road where the collectivo passes) and there was this huge puddle in part of the road so I was like ok we need to hurry and pass before we get splashed! And so I start going and I'm like almost to the other side when this collectivo comes out of nowhere and goes right through the puddle and I get completely drenched!! Gotta love it. Ok and what in the world is happening with Ty?! I thought that he should be leaving pretty soon...so he could possibly leave today but nobody knows. Ha that's awesome. Good email though. Man he is going to tear it up in the field! I can't wait to hear about all his cool experiences! And I'm so jealous that Elder Holland came to the MTC. How awesome. But man Ty is just on fire! What a testimony. Love it. Ok and that's so so tyte that there was an OWL in our backyard. That's so crazy. Who would've thought? Ha and mom I'm completely confident that the Egypt project will be the best one out of everyones! I'm excited to hear how it goes. I hope everyone had a great week! Love yall! Write me :) And as always thank you grandma for your love and emails. Their perfect!
Love,
Hermanita Nelson
What's up?!!! Ok so are yall so excited to hear about what happened at changes?!! Ha well guess what?! There is not much to tell because we did not have changes, I'm still with my comp in the same area...which means this is my 3rd change with her (4 ½ months) and my 5th change in this area (7 ½ months). CRAZY ¿verdad? Wow oh AND Hna G (my comp from the MTC that I LOVE moved into our house and is now senior comp with Hna Garcia) What a guapa! She's so awesome and her Spanish is incredible. And I am so so thankful that we get to live together...maybe one day we'll be comps again! So I was also able to go to Hna Case's despedida (farewell) because it was in our area, so I met her parents and everything. So fun! Ah they just reminded me of our family! Ha a lil trunky...yall will have to meet them too! Oh man and last week I forgot to tell you, I almost died. Like literally. We were in Asuncion for a zone activity and most of the streets are just like one way..and we were going to cross the street and we were like joggin across and then all of a sudden I hear my comp gasp and I'm like what in the world, so I turn to face her and she is to my left and I see this car coming straight towards me and I like jerked to a stop and the car passed right in front of me (like half of a foot). It like scared me sooo bad! And then there were these elders that saw it happen and they were like I don't know how you're alive. Real nice, right? That's called being a missionary..ha we have angels guarding us. Ha I thought yall might appreciate that story. Oh and I almost forgot!! I got mom's package! Woot woot I was so excited because it has been cold and rainy all day yesterday and today! Which means I should be getting grandmas in the next couple weeks! Perfect! Oh another story... the other day we were walking in the routa (the road where the collectivo passes) and there was this huge puddle in part of the road so I was like ok we need to hurry and pass before we get splashed! And so I start going and I'm like almost to the other side when this collectivo comes out of nowhere and goes right through the puddle and I get completely drenched!! Gotta love it. Ok and what in the world is happening with Ty?! I thought that he should be leaving pretty soon...so he could possibly leave today but nobody knows. Ha that's awesome. Good email though. Man he is going to tear it up in the field! I can't wait to hear about all his cool experiences! And I'm so jealous that Elder Holland came to the MTC. How awesome. But man Ty is just on fire! What a testimony. Love it. Ok and that's so so tyte that there was an OWL in our backyard. That's so crazy. Who would've thought? Ha and mom I'm completely confident that the Egypt project will be the best one out of everyones! I'm excited to hear how it goes. I hope everyone had a great week! Love yall! Write me :) And as always thank you grandma for your love and emails. Their perfect!
Love,
Hermanita Nelson
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
May 10, 2010
***It was so amazing being able to talk to Amanda on Mother's Day!! She sounds just like Amanda with a few Spanish words thrown in. I think she's at the point where she doesn't speak English, Spanish or Guarani...just a mix of all of them...haha!
It was so wonderful to still get a letter the next day. Here it is:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALENA!!!!! 15 years old!!! Watch out! Woot woot I hope you have such a fun day! Live it up chica! Ahhhh and it was so so good to hear yall's voices yesterday! Chulina! Seriously, it was fun because it just felt normal. Yall are all just fabulous! And I hope everyone had an amazing mothers day!! So like I already told yall my comp has been sick for this whole past week, que triste, and we find out changes tomorrow! Oh la misión! Ahh and I have to tell yall something so cute, that's happened twice! Ok so one day about two weeks ago I was with my comp and we decided to contact this one house and so we entered in and were walking to the front of the house and there were these 2 lil boys playing soccer (one was like 10 and the other one like 4) and we walked up to them and started talking to them and then all of a sudden the younger one looked at me and stopped playing with his brother and just came running at me and just gave me the BIGGEST HUG and just held onto me for like 10 sec and then walked away like nothing had even happened. And my comp was like, and me? But he just walked off. Ha it was the cutest thing! It totally made my day because it was just so random and out of nowhere and you know how I love little kids!!! Especially lil latinos. And then this past week I was with Hna Case on our division and we were walking down the street in her area and these 2 lil girls were walking towards us probably like 10 and 4 tambien and they were like hola hermanas and we had no idea who they were (which is pretty normal because most of the kids know who we are) and then the lil girl came right up to me and did the same thing. Hugged me and just held onto me and then just walked away. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but to me they were lil gifts from God. Tender mercies, ¿verdad? Ahh and then Emilio recieving his llamamiento (calling) to be the 2nd counselor in the YM presidency. And we were able to be there to sustain him. Just so cool. Love the mish. And mom in your email you talked a lil bit about the light of Christ. And yesterday in church somebody gave a talk on that. And I told Emilio and Alcides that they had the light of Christ now and you could just see it because they're always just so happy and excited about the gospel. And Emilio told me that that was one of the first things he recognized about us. He said I could just tell there was something different about yall and I liked being around yall because I always felt so good and felt closer to God and could just see something different in your countenance. And the other day we were at his house and I was talking and said something like, "ya know life is always going to be hard, but it's just so much easier with the gospel!" And then he just bore testimony of that, and said how at first he wasn't really sure about all of it and he had a lot of doubts, etc. but now with the gospel he can see the difference and he recognizes how simple everything really is. That's also one thing I have noticed. The gospel is so simple. The doctrine is laid out, so simple that a child can understand. But for some reason a veces (sometimes) we like to make things difficult and complicate things. And bueno, how many times does it say in the Book of Mormon that if you keep the commandments, you will prosper in the land, you will receive eternal life. That's it! Why do we make things so complicated? Ha I do it too. But man, I have come to love the simplicity of the gospel. It's in the little things (reading our scriptures, attending our church meetings, praying) if we do those things we'll stay strong, we'll have our rock built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ and when the hard times comes, we'll stand strong. Ha the gospel is perfect! Love it! Love yall! I hope you have a great week! Pray for me! Be excited to hear what happens in changes! Yikes! So nervous!
Love,
Hermanita Nelson
It was so wonderful to still get a letter the next day. Here it is:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALENA!!!!! 15 years old!!! Watch out! Woot woot I hope you have such a fun day! Live it up chica! Ahhhh and it was so so good to hear yall's voices yesterday! Chulina! Seriously, it was fun because it just felt normal. Yall are all just fabulous! And I hope everyone had an amazing mothers day!! So like I already told yall my comp has been sick for this whole past week, que triste, and we find out changes tomorrow! Oh la misión! Ahh and I have to tell yall something so cute, that's happened twice! Ok so one day about two weeks ago I was with my comp and we decided to contact this one house and so we entered in and were walking to the front of the house and there were these 2 lil boys playing soccer (one was like 10 and the other one like 4) and we walked up to them and started talking to them and then all of a sudden the younger one looked at me and stopped playing with his brother and just came running at me and just gave me the BIGGEST HUG and just held onto me for like 10 sec and then walked away like nothing had even happened. And my comp was like, and me? But he just walked off. Ha it was the cutest thing! It totally made my day because it was just so random and out of nowhere and you know how I love little kids!!! Especially lil latinos. And then this past week I was with Hna Case on our division and we were walking down the street in her area and these 2 lil girls were walking towards us probably like 10 and 4 tambien and they were like hola hermanas and we had no idea who they were (which is pretty normal because most of the kids know who we are) and then the lil girl came right up to me and did the same thing. Hugged me and just held onto me and then just walked away. I know it doesn't sound like a big deal, but to me they were lil gifts from God. Tender mercies, ¿verdad? Ahh and then Emilio recieving his llamamiento (calling) to be the 2nd counselor in the YM presidency. And we were able to be there to sustain him. Just so cool. Love the mish. And mom in your email you talked a lil bit about the light of Christ. And yesterday in church somebody gave a talk on that. And I told Emilio and Alcides that they had the light of Christ now and you could just see it because they're always just so happy and excited about the gospel. And Emilio told me that that was one of the first things he recognized about us. He said I could just tell there was something different about yall and I liked being around yall because I always felt so good and felt closer to God and could just see something different in your countenance. And the other day we were at his house and I was talking and said something like, "ya know life is always going to be hard, but it's just so much easier with the gospel!" And then he just bore testimony of that, and said how at first he wasn't really sure about all of it and he had a lot of doubts, etc. but now with the gospel he can see the difference and he recognizes how simple everything really is. That's also one thing I have noticed. The gospel is so simple. The doctrine is laid out, so simple that a child can understand. But for some reason a veces (sometimes) we like to make things difficult and complicate things. And bueno, how many times does it say in the Book of Mormon that if you keep the commandments, you will prosper in the land, you will receive eternal life. That's it! Why do we make things so complicated? Ha I do it too. But man, I have come to love the simplicity of the gospel. It's in the little things (reading our scriptures, attending our church meetings, praying) if we do those things we'll stay strong, we'll have our rock built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ and when the hard times comes, we'll stand strong. Ha the gospel is perfect! Love it! Love yall! I hope you have a great week! Pray for me! Be excited to hear what happens in changes! Yikes! So nervous!
Love,
Hermanita Nelson
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
May 4, 2010
Ahh I'm so excited to be able to talk to yall in a week! How fun! Prepare yourselves because I'll probably be speaking a mixture of guarani, spanish, and english! Ok so this past week, I was able to witness something so special and sacred for me! One of my converts, Emilio who was baptized 3 months ago (crazy how fast time flies!) is just a stud. As yall know, he has been blessing the sacrament ever since he was baptized, and about a month ago he entered in the temple for the first time, and this past Friday, he performed a baptism! It has been so rewarding to see the gospel change his life and to see how happy he is with the gospel. He is the only person in his family who is a member and his mom does not like the church or us lol but he is so fiel. He also just got his papers to start filling out from the bishop for his mission. He says right now, that it is the most important thing for him and he hopes and prays that he will be able to serve our Heavenly Father. And then to see him baptize Alcides! Ahh just so rewarding because it was a miracle that Alcides decided to get baptized. I was at the point of thinking it was hopeless for him to decide to get baptized and then I was able to witness a miracle! He changed his mind and on Friday he was baptized and received the Holy Ghost. That is what it is all about!!! Moments so sacred and special like that are what make all the hard times worth it. I feel so blessed to be a part of this work and to see the gospel change lives and to see and witness the power that the Book of Mormon really does have. The church is so true! I love being a missionary! I honestly tried to send a picture but it’s just not working out and it takes up too much time, BUT I’m going to send my chip (memory card) home with Hna Case and she’s gonna send it to yall…so in about a month you should be getting a good chunk of pictures! In fast and testimony meeting on Sunday, Manu got up to bear his testimony and he started talking about the Book of Mormon and how they are still planchas de oro (plates of gold) that each Book of Mormon is of that same worth and more! And how these records had been hidden up for years to be brought to pass at this time for us! I really liked it. Honestly the Book of Mormon is not just another book from another religion. It is the word of God, written for us. It is our guidance and map in this crazy world. It is such pure evidence that our Heavenly Father loves us. I know that God loves us. I know that he sent his son, Jesus Christ to die for us, so that we might live eternally with them. Ohhh the church is just so true! Yesterday (Monday) we had an hermana activity that we do about every 3 months, where all the hermanas get together and we do something. Yesterday we went to a baby hospital and handed out lil baby blankets and then went to the Wade’s to eat lunch. And after the 4 hermana’s that are leaving got up to bear their testimonies to the rest of us. Tear fest…yes. But as they were talking I just kept thinking, WOW this gospel is so perfect! And we know all about it! Sometimes it just blows my mind when the people don’t want it. Ha for me it’s just so simple and so obviously true. I dunno cada dia I just feel more and more blessed to have the knowledge of his gospel and to have the opportunity to share it with others. So awesome! Love the mish. Not gonna lie, it’s really hard, but like I said moments like watching Emilio baptizing Alcides make it all worth it. And honestly the Lord’s hand is everywhere in the work, you just have to recognize it. Love yall so much! Oh and thanks for forwarding Nick’s email…what a stud. Lol he’s gonna be such a good missionary! And I’m so excited for Steve! I can’t wait to hear where he’s gonna go! And oh man I can’t believe Elder Curtis is going home so soon! I don’t know if I’ll see him again before he leaves…so yall might see him before me! So you better tell him, he better write me! Que rapido!!! And mom that’s so tyte about the DT. Que guapa. I’m excited to hear what happens with that! And which picture did you use? Bueno, g2g. Chao!!! Love yall!
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