September 29, 2014

Hey! Glad to hear you're liking your new calling! Sounds pretty entertaining! haha. I don't think my shoulder problem is from the car accident. That was forever ago. But I have physical therapy today, I got my blood work done last week, so I will get the results this week, and no worries, I will get a flu shot! haha Goodness health problems! Don't ya know I'm trying to be a missionary here!

But this week! Where to even begin. We had an awesome week, but then yesterday just kind of ruined the whole week. We're just trying to stay positive. We had awesome lessons with the Medina family all week, they were super excited about temples, they were reading together as a family, and I just felt part of the family! Then Sunday before church, they dropped us out of no where. Huge blow. Then we had everything all set and ready for the baptism, everyone was at the stake center, the font filled, and everything, and we go with Araseli's ride to pick her up and she said she couldn't do it. OUCH. We were standing outside her house for an hour talking to her, all of us crying.

Long story short she doesn't have any support from her family, no one is talking to her and it really hurts her cause she hasn't done anything with out her family. She said she's just so torn because she wants to get baptized so bad, and knows it's the right thing to do, but she doesn't feel right with all the stuff with her family. She concluded that she just wants to talk to all of them to help them understand why she's doing it, and even if she doesn't get their support she's still going to do it. Oh man. We just went home and cried for a couple of hours the went to bed. It was a super hard day. I'm just worried cause this exact same thing happened with Jesus, and he never got baptized. I don't want Satan to get to Araseli, and have that happen too. 

We've been talking to her this morning and she's going to her mom's house today to talk to her. And now we have another obstacle that she's going to start working at nights, so we would have to do the baptism in the morning, which we don't even know is possible. We have to talk to bishop. So yeah! That's been our life the past couple of days! I had a reflecting moment and I was like whoa, why does this even effect me so much? It's amazing how much I've changed and how much the Savior's love has penetrated through me to have this love for these people. Last night when Carlson and I were just laying there crying, I thought of a verse in the Book of Mormon of the Sons of Mosiah in 28:3

"Now they were desirous that salvation should be declared to every creature, for they could not bear that any human soul should perish; yeah, even the very thoughts that any soul should endure endless torment did cause them to quake and tremble."

I always wanted to be a missionary like the sons of mosiah, and at that moment I felt a little piece of how they felt and how the Savior felt. The mission is the hardest thing ever. But it's the time when I can feel more like the Savior in my whole life. I'm grateful for the opportunities to learn and to grow, even when sometimes it just seems easier to give up. But! We're going to keep pressing forward! Please keep Araseli in your prayers! Have a great week! 

Hermana Nelson

September 22, 2014

Hooooola :) 

Wow! Sounds like the dedication was amazing! I'm jealous I couldn't go! But missionary work everyday is pretty much the best, so I guess it evens out ;) As for transfers! We're staying the same! Finishing up Hna. Carlson's training! Which we figured! We're super happy :) We work so hard together it's great! And we're definitely seeing the miracles of it! But Nielson and Pyper are getting doubled out so we will be living with a greenie and her trainer. (still english) We'll meet them tomorrow, so fingers crossed that they're cool ;) 

This week was another really good one! We had 6 people at church! So awesome! (Araseli, Esmerelda, and 4 of the Medina fam) Araseli has her baptism interview this week and her baptism on Sunday! Yay! We're all super excited! She's great :) super solid! 

Esmerelda we were actually pretty shocked she came to church, cause we only had one lesson with her, and it was basically a do or die lesson, giving her one last chance before we dropped her, since she hasn't been reading or praying and off and on about church. Her desires are low. Then she cancelled our other appointment with her this week, we stopped by Sunday morning, and she didn't answer. But then she just showed up to church with the Ruiz fam! And! We had dinner with them yesterday and they brought her to dinner! Without us even asking! Bien hecho! So that was all cool! And she went to mutual this past week and we didn't even know! Man, members make the biggest of difference for sure! We talked to Hna. Ruiz about it, and she said it's probably going to take some time, so we're not sure what we're going to do, but we're going to revise how we're teaching her. 

The Medina fam is awesome! We saw them twice this week, even with their crazy schedules! And 3/5 of them have read! Yay! The 2 teenage boys said they read together one night. Aw :) so cute! But unfortunately we're still working with the whole soccer on Sunday issue. They had to go to the english ward at 9 cause Eric had a game at 1. So we'll see! But they're super awesome and are totally a dry mormon family! 

And! To top it all off! Alex passed the sacrament yesterday AND went to the temple to do baptisms AND is going to Utah for General Conference! hahaha he's so great! And of course he loved all of it! Oh and the other day we went over for an appointment with him, and his friend George was there, so we ended putting him on date! He said Alex has talked a lot about the church with him. So great! He said he was going to come to church with Alex, but he ended up not coming. But we have an appointment with him today.

Also! Hna. Munoz has been talking to her friend, so we met her, didn't have much time with her, but we have an appointment setup for the week! Look at all this great member missionary work! Super awesome! So no one has any excuses ;) and we heard about the "Meet the Mormons" movie that's coming out! Sounds super cool! So everyone should invite someone to go to it! The work is hastening! Why? CAUSE IT'S TRUE! 

Well hope you have a great week! Love you :) 

Hermana Nelson

September 15, 2014

Hiiiiii:) Sounds like you had a pretty great week with some spiritual uplifting moments! I love that comparison you did with the sealing power! Super cool! Once again this week we've seen miracles! Welcome to missionary life:) I love it :) So update on the people you asked for:

We had some awesome lessons with Araseli, she's still doing really great, always asking us for new chapters to read and when we can come over again. Unforuteately her daughter got sick with the flu so she wasn't able to go to church:( but she's still excited for her baptism, and kept asking what time, so we already got the building reserved with the time for her She's awesome!

We don't really know what happened with Max yesterday. We had a couple good lessons with him during the week, then talked to him on the phone like 20 mins before church and he didn't come. We stopped by later and he wasn't there, so we're not sure what happened yet!

Claudia was MIA for a little, but we finally saw her and she was excited to come to church, but then she wasn't there for our appointment with her Sunday morning and didn't end up coming to church. But we had a lesson with her husband Jesus last night about church and the atonement and it went really well! He said the closing prayer and started crying, including in the prayer their daughter that passed away. We testified of the Plan of Salvation and the spirit was so strong! Hopefully this will be used for motivation to come to church and to live the gospel so they can have their eternal family!

Gloria still hasn't called us or anything. I've talked to Elder Perez about it a couple of times and he said she's not as solid as she used to be. Ever since her 1st interview, things just went downhill from there. So we'll see what happens. We don't really know as of right now.

THEN! Oh my goodness. Besides the people that didn't come to church yesterday, it was an AWESOME day yesterday! HUGE miracle! So we had an appointment with a potential right before church, but it ended up starting late, so we literally had 10 mins til we needed to get to church, and I was like well we'll just talk about church! We invited them and they were saying that they were tired and weren't even ready or anything, then I just had a gift of tongues moment when I spit out so many words so fast since we didn't have a lot of time. I think I talked about the atonement and the sacrament, and invited them to come again and the youngest son that's like 13 was like , "yeah, okay!" So then they all start running around getting ready, "5 MINUTE SHOWER EVERYONE!!" haha it was so great.

SO! We actually spoke in sacrament meeting yesterday (which by the way, example one of how I've changed cause I used to take so much time on my talks and write it word for word, and this time I just wrote a couple of points down, found a couple of scriptures in like 15 mins, and just gave it! And in spanish! And I wasn't even nervous. so that's all a miracle in itself) But anyway, we were sitting on the stand and we just see the Medina family walk in, all 5 of them! Wooo! Happy day! So cool! And the ward just fellowshipped them soo good! Then Esmerelda came, and also someone else that we picked up this week, Reyes. So we had 7 people at church yesterday! Oh man we were beaming! So awesome! AND! A recent convert, less active family that we've been working with came too! I was just on cloud nine!

So that just gives a little tid bit of my life this week :) haha sorry this email was so long. But it's been good! I love it here! I love being a missionary! And I love seeing people's lives change as they live this gospel! Cause well, you know, ITS TRUE. Have a great week! Love you! :)

Hermanita Nelson :)

Look Who Came to See Kylee and Take Her Out to Dinner! She Loves Them :)

Movie Night on a Mini-DVD Player

September 8, 2014

Buenas tardes :)

This week was another good one! (like always right? Mission life is just the best) First of all, Araseli is soooo cool! We had a few lessons with her this week and she is so solid! She's so excited for her baptism the 28th! We had a really special Plan of Salvation lesson with her, focusing on how she can live with her dad again, and she LOVED it. She was like, "wow, it all just makes sense." I'm just grinning like a cheeseball, like "YEAH!" haha oh my. So she has the craziest work schedule where example: she got home at 4am from work, and had to go back in at 6am, so she read the chapter of the Book of Mormon during that time, then when she got back from work, we had a lesson with her! Like she's awesome! Talk about dedication! NO one has any excuses about not ready the scriptures if Araseli can do it! We have a FHE set up with her tonight, so we're super excited about that!

Another cool story, Max, he said he asked his boss off work for Sundays and he said no, but in a couple months, and so Max said he would just have to hurry cause he gets out of work at 12:30, and it's like 20 mins away. and church starts at 1. BUT! He still made it! Well he was a little late, but he's going to try even harder next week! And honestly, we weren't expecting that! And get this! ALEX is fellowshipping him haha he's awesome. Since Alex walks everywhere he said he would walk to Max's to help us with our lessons, and then he asked us if we're teaching other people too. Alex has been a memeber for like 2 weeks now? Geeez he's great. Made me think of how lazy I was before with missionary work! That's definitely going to change when I get back!

THEN! hahah don't you love all my stories? I love stories :) this one is super cool! So Claudia, that Hna. Dulong and I was teaching, it wasn't really going anywhere cause she worked every sunday at the hospital and couldn't get it off. Then we didn't really see her for a while, but we had a lesson with her this week, and she said she was talking to her boss and got all these other people to talk to him too so that they could all have one day off, he said he had to go to the guy above him and would let them know. So we talked to Claudia about fasting, and we had a special fast on Friday, then when we went to our appointment Saturday, she said that she now has Sundays OFF!!!! WOOOOO! Oh man we were all so pumped! Fasting is so real it's incredible! So now next week and from here on out she can come! We're so excited! :)

Also! Apparently Elder Perez, who is now serving in Hemet, called Gloria and talked to her about everything and she said that she's going to call us to come back over this week! AH! YAY! I miss her so much! So fingers crossed that everything goes well!

So many wonderful miracles each and every day I love it :) And oh yeah, I hit my half way mark this week. That was freaky. I can't believe it. We just try and not talk about it though, now that I'm on the downward slope. Ah that's scary. But we celebrated by getting my favorite chocolate devotion at cold stones :) (yes the biggest size haha don't judge, we were celebrating ;))

Whoa wait, I totally forgot about the Ogden Dedication! I have no idea if we can to go to the broadcast or not! Or is it just for in Utah? Who knows! I guess we'll see!

Well hope you have a great week and count the blessings :) I love you!

Hermana Nelson :)

Celebrating at Coldstone

Kylee Celebrating Her Half-Way Mark!

September 1, 2014

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOUT OUT TO YOU TOMORROW DAD! :) Sounds like you guys had a fun week! Hope you have la mejor cumpleanos manana :) also, you all look like midgets in the pictures with Sis. Williams haha but it's okay, maybe you'll grow a little more since your b-day is tomorrow ;) 

So this week has been quite the rollarcoaster! But mainly really good! So last Monday we talked to Gloria on the phone and I asked her how she liked the baptism, and she said she didn't like it! We were like WHAT! How can you not?? And the spirit was soo strong in it too! So then we were super confused and she said that she decided that she's going to go to catholic church. WHAAAAT. Oh man. I tried everything over the phone to remind her what she has felt, and how she knows this is true, but she still said she was going to the catholic church. So basically we hung up and just cried last Monday. But the Sis. Pyper and Sis. Neilson were nice that, that night we roasted marshmallows and starbursts to try and cheer us up, which was fun! (we did it in our fireplace haha)

We had multi-zones this week, which of course was AMAZING! They talked a lot about planning, and obedience, which I had no idea there have been so many problems with obedience lately, so it's good that President is coming down on it and switching everything around! Hna. Carlson and I were just thanking each other for being obedient. I can't even imagine having a comp that wasn't! That would be so hard! We learned a lot at multi-zones, that we're going to improve more in our teachings and being the best missionaries we can be :) It's always a good boost :) (and there was a contest to see who could have the best well taken car of car/ cleanest, and guess who won?? I did! haha so we won an In 'n out gift card! woo woo!) President and Sister Mullen are amazing though! I'm so happy I can serve under them :) (and other funny side note, all the spanish sisters and Pres. Mullen all happened to be wearing some yellow, so we took a pic :) )

Ever since multi-zones we've just been blessed with miracles after miracles, it's amazing!!! We got 8 member presents in 3 days, and picked up 7 new investigators and put them all on date for baptism! WOOOW. It was awesome :) everything was just falling into place and I could really feel myself being guided by the spirit! Unfortunately, not all of them came to church, but hey, still miracles!

I don't remember if I said anything about Araseli? Hna. Dulong and I OYMed her but then couldn't find her house, then I OYMed her a couple weeks ago, and we were finally able to find her house and have a lesson with her! She said she felt something different and she wants to be baptized! Her dad passed away this year, so she has a lot of questions about that, that we're excited to answer for her :) We had a church tour with her Saturday that Hna. Caro came with us, and it went really well, and then she came to church yesterday! Well, she got there late cause of her work, but she still came and she loved it!

Then literally 15 mins before church started, we called Fransisco, an OYM that we haven't even had a lesson with yet, and invited him to come, and he came! And he's super cool!!! He loved church! We have our first lesson with him tonight, so we're excited :) 

Then Esmerelda, the 14 year old also came! Hna. Ruiz picked her up and she's actually friends with her daughter Alexis at school, so it was perfect! And she also really liked church! We just might have a problem with her grandma cause she goes to a different church, so pray that her heart will be softened!

Another miracle! Eva, we had a harvest blessing with her and she started crying asking us what she was feeling. I told her it was the Holy Ghost and then literally I don't know what I said, the spirit just guided and now she's on date and turns out her family in Mexico is also meeting with missionaries, so she said she knows it's for a reason! But she didn't come to church cause she had family over :( so hopefully we can get her to come next week! Well hope you have a great week! Miracles happen every day! Sometimes they're just a litter harder to find! So find them :) Love you muchisimo! 

Hermana Nelson

ps Alex got the Holy Ghost yesterday! AW! The cutie :) 

Roasting Marshmallows

Roasting Marshmallows

Multi-Zone Conference!

Matching!