October 27, 2014

Buenos dias! Thanks so much for the birthday wishes and the package :) It was perfect! We had a lot of fun! I'll attach some pictures :) Hna. Carlson was trying to do a big surprise for me, but since you guys sent a cake, I was going to make it, and then she confessed that she already had the Elders buy one for me and they were going to bring it over while I was in the shower, so instead we pulled a little prank on the Elders and I opened the door when they brought it over. So funny! We recorded it, so I guess I'll show it to you in like 8 months haha but it was super funny. We had a little party during lunch and then the rest of the day we had lessons that all went really well :) Right? It's crazy how fast time flies. I can't believe it. I feel like I'm the one that's 17, not Connor! 

This week was pretty good! Our investigators are all kind of in the same boat. No one is super duper solid, but they all have desires to do learn. So we're working with those desires to get them to grow! Esmerelda is still coming to church, and we were shocked yesterday when her sister Nancy came too! So we're excited to see how that all happened! Pray that Esmerelda still wants to wait to be baptized til she's older. So pray that she has a change of heart with that! 

WE FOUND VERONICA! She's been MIA for a week! Turns out all this crazy stuff has been happening, that now she's moving and changing her phone number and everything. I won't go into details, but we may have protected her when we showed up at her house the other night! So keep her in your prayers too! She's so awesome and really wants to get baptized, Satan is just trying SOO hard right now. 

We also are having and interesting little situation! So a Sister in the english ward is having her mom and her aunt visiting from Venezuela, and wanted her aunt to be taught again. Her name is Carmen and she was taught 30 years ago, and was about to be baptized, but because a missionary was disobedient it completely turned her off! So we've been working with her this week, and she's really cool! But the weird thing is that she's going to Texas in a week, then moving back to Venezuela after that. So we're getting the process starting and somehow she's going to be taught in Texas and Venezuela. I wish she was her longer so we could keep working with her, but she's really opened up and I'm sure one day she will be baptized :) I'll have to keep in touch with them to find out ;) 

We've also been working a lot with less-actives, and 3 of them came to church! I feel like a lot of the times missionaries don't pay much attention to less-actives since they don't count as numbers or baptisms, but it's really the exact same thing teaching them, and rekindling that fire that was once there! It's part of our purpose to help others to endure to the end. So I've grown a bigger testimony this week on working with people that you don't really get to see the fruits of your labors (Carmen and less-actives) Which made me also think of how I can do missionary work when I get home since obviously it's mostly members in Utah it's harder to do the baptizing of missionary work, but less-active work is just as important! When it talks about bringing souls to Christ, it doesn't say just through baptism, but helping people return and herding in the lost sheep. So I challenge you and everyone to do some more less-active work as missionary work and strengthening the people around you :) When I get home I'm going to print off a less-active sheet and start visiting all of them to keep fulfilling my missionary responsibilities :) I love this gospel and I love sharing it with others! Hope you have a great week :) Sure do love you! 

Con mucho amor, 

Hermana Nelson 

Birthday Decorations

The Birthday Girl

Kylee's Cake! 

October 20, 2014

Hiiiiii :) 

Mmm that sounds good :) It's funny you mention that cause the other day Hna. Carlson and I were eating canned soup and we were saying how we miss homemade soup :) but anyway! Things are pretty good! We had a good week, then it was stake conference yesterday and no one came :'( we were super sad! For some reason it's just so hard to get people to a different time and different building! So hopefully this week we can actually get people! 

We've been picking up people and dropping people like crazy! Right now we don't really have a super solid person. We have a lot that have good potential, but are just in the early stages of things! We had a couple really great lessons with Veronica this week, she read, she still wants to get baptized, and wanted to come to church, but didn't! Wasn't home, and hasn't answered our calls! So hopefully we can find her! We have no idea what's going on!

Paulina and her kids are pretty good. We feel like we took a couple steps back with them. They have a lot of doubts about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith, but it seems like their desires to know are really strong. So if they really study and pray about it, I know they'll get their answer, they just have to do it! They work like crazy though! They go in the morning, get back at 1, go back at 2 for the rest of the day. So we are having a problem seeing them and they also work on Sundays. She said she'll ask for Sundays off, so that's what we're praying for!

Yesterday, we also picked up a new family that seem really cool! We immediately clicked and they said they'll be able to come to church and are excited to learn! We have an appointment with them tomorrow! He also has a crazy work schedule though, so hopefully that doesn't get in the way of things! I swear no one here has a normal work schedule! Everyone works allllll the time! It's ridiculous! 

ALSO! Big news! Elder Evans came to our mission this past week, and we had a really good conference with him! It was SO GOOD! I can really feel the whole missionary work making a turn for the better! We learned a lot about working with members, and how to build better relationships with people to help them progress. Making things more personal! I'm really excited about all of it! And guess what! No more OYMs! Well no more of 10 OYMs a day, and having to go to the parking lot! It's so weird still! We don't have to count all the people we talk to it, which is a lot better cause I feel like it  makes everything more quality! They also came down on NO Harvest Blessings! Which is going to be weird, but better so then we can know earlier on if people are actually interested in the message! I also liked something that he said, to act as if you were a general authority. I've been thinking about that a lot in how I talk to people. It was a really good! He's awesome! 

Everything going good! We're just working super hard that we've been trying to get in bed by 10 all this week just cause we're so exhausted! Thanks Dad :) I can't believe I'm going to be 20, it's mind blowing. I'm so old haha Well have a fabulous week! :) Love you!! 

Hermana Nelson

p.s. we got to play soccer last week for the first time on my mission and it was soooo fun ;) 

Celebrating Kylee's Birthday at the Waffle House

October 13, 2014

Hey! Yes you guys can stop worrying about my health haha I'm fine! And my shoulder is getting better! yay :) Sounds like Fall Break will be fun! Enjoy the break :) Really?? That's good to hear that "Meet the Mormons" has been doing good! Yeah we actually got to see it a couple of weeks ago before it came out! It's super good! I want to watch it again haha everyone should go see it and invite someon to it :)

This week was really good! We got to go to the temple! yay! And it hit me while I was in the temple that it was Oct 9 and that was the day last year that I went through the temple for the first time! So that was cool that I got to be in the temple on the same day! And I'm just so mind blown that it's been a whole year!

Araseli got confirmed yesterday! Yay! :) She's still going through a lot of stuff though, so keep her in your prayers! And we picked up some really cool people this week! The first one is Veronica and she is seriously Araseli round two! I OYMed her with Sis. Dulong and nothing came of it, and then we OYMed her again and she loves all of it! Everything just clicks for her! It's super cool! When I explained Priesthood and getting baptized by it, she was like, "I've been baptized before, but no one ever told me about that!" haha it was cool! She accepted a baptism date ,so we're excited for her!

Then we had a lesson Sunday morning with Paulina and then she and her 2 boys came to church! So that was super cool! She also accepted a baptism date! We don't know them very well, but they seem really golden! Miracles after miracles :)

We're still working with Esmerelda. She came to church and goes to mutual, she's still just a little hesitant on baptism. We'll see! Pray for a miracle! Well hope you have a great week and share the gospel with everyone :) Love you! :)

Hermana Nelson

Kylee Having Fun!

Physical Therapy

Temple Trip

Temple Trip

October 6, 2014

Buenas tardes!

So update on the health stuff real fast: I've been going to physical therapy twice a week, and it's been helping! I did mention to him the accident and he said it very well could be because some times it takes months or years to even show. But we don't really know! And I don't really know what he does, all these weird machine things, but they feel good haha! The thyroid test came back negative, so that's good! But at the same time, we still don't know what's causing it, so Sis. Crippen, our nurse said she'll investigate it more.

Now enough of that boring stuff! Time for the best news! ARASELI GOT BAPTIZED! I can finally have relief! It was going like back and forth all week cause she talked to her mom, and fixed things there, but then she got a job that now she works every night, so she wanted to do her baptism during the day, but no one in the bishopric could, so it was just about finding the time! SO! We did it inbetween the sessions of General Conference Saturday! So great! Still none of her family came, but it's so amazing the faith that she has. She's so strong! But she said that there's no way she can leave it when the gospel and going to church makes her so happy! I love that, cause it's so true! The gospel of Jesus Christ truly makes us happy. And if we're not happy, we need to take a step back and evaluate ourselves in what we're not doing to apply the gospel in our lives, and without fail, it will make us happy!

I hope you enjoyed conference as much as I did! It was so amazing! I've been trying to decide this whole time which talk was my favorite, and I literally can't choose haha I know I'm so indecisive. But I love the themes that were talked about! Sustaining our leaders, standing up for what we know-but not being overbearing, the sacrament, how we have to have our strong testimony and conversion. I just loved it all! I'm super excited for the conference issue to come out so I can enjoy it all over again:) We also had the chance to watch "Meet the Mormons" and holy cow, it was AMAZING! Seriously everyone needs to see it and invite everyone to it! This weekend! GO SEE IT! It was very well done!  

Updates on people: the Medina family offically dropped us yesterday when we dropped by. That was a stab in the heart. But we'll keep praying they'll come around. I love their family! Then like 5 other people dropped us too this weekend. So that was fun. Opposition in all things. hahaBut that's okay! We know it's for a reason and we have a huge list of potentials that we need to visit, so we know there are elect people on that list! It's just a matter of seeing them!

Esmerelda is still doing good! We asked her if she has been praying about her baptism date for the end of the month and she said yeah and we're like okay, how do you feel? And she's like, I think it's a... YES. Booyah! We're so excited for her! Her testimony is growing so much and you can just see the light in her eyes I love it! She's pretty much our only solid right now, so we just have to find the elect! Have an awesome week! Love you :)

Hermana Nelson

p.s. we jump started a lady's car yesterday all by ourselves, look at all this stuff I'm learning on a mission! haha :)

Araseli's Baptism

Araseli's Baptism