Week 103: The last letter- "Im coming home, Im coming home, tell the world Im coming home. (Sean "Diddy" Combs)

Buenos Tardes a Todos!

This week was a good week! We worked hard and found a couple of people that have given us hope and faith!

This week we had almost all of our appointments fall through which made us spend almost all of our time contacting and looking for new people. Sometimes it was hard to get  myself to do it because I was tired but I managed to persevere. 

We gave out a good number of Books of Mormon and found lots of people that could be interested. The best moment was a new investigator that we found. He was out in the street with his friend and we started talking to him (Because he had contacted him a couple days before) and we started talking about life and Chile and fleites and we were really friendly and funny with them. Then they started asking us what we do and why we do the mission. We testified strongly about the gospel and taught a little bit of each lesson. As missionaries they always teach us that we should testify about the restoration, but here in Chile the vision of baptism and repentance is so skewed that I love to testify and teach about baptism and repentance before anything else. It was a great lesson and they talked about how they want to believe but want to know if it is true. We talked about prayer and the Book of Mormon and how they can know from God if it is the path. And they said that they would be willing to do Everything if they came to know that it was true (Including baptism). It was a great lesson and made me feel super good.

Besides that I will be working this week and next week I am home! AAAAHHH it has passed by so fast! But it has be the best, hardest, saddest, happiest, most uplifting and fulfilling 2 years of my life. They really are the Best 2 years :)!!!!!

Next Monday I will be visiting my converts and eating with president and the other missionaries so  I wont be sending a letter. So the next time that we talk will be Wednesday in the airport! How crazy is that!

I love you all! Stay Golden!

Until Wednesday!

Love,

Elder Nielson :)

Week 102: I believe in Miracles!!

Buenos Dias a Todos!!

This week was a good week of some miracle moments and also a long week of lots of walking ha ha. I am super super super tired physically, mentally, and emotionally, but I gotta work in the time which is called "Day" (D&C).

Basically the best part of the week was a day of Interchanges when I was in another sector with one of the elders of my zone.

I was with Elder "R" the Brazilian who was with me in the trio to start the change. We were in his sector and it was a day of Miracles. To start it all the night before I started preparing myself for the interchange with prayers and studies to prepare us to have a day of miracles. I made sure to have true intent and offered my whole self and energy and everything as an offering to have miracles happen. When the interchange came we made sure to work as hard as we could and we saw the results of our prayer.

We contacted EVERY PERSON that we could reach. In the whole day I think we contacted 25 or 26 people. We taught 3 investigators in 1 day, found 2 new investigators, and invited 2 people to be baptized in the lesson.

We contacted a 17 year old named Ian. The whole day I was making it my goal to contact people in different ways. As he was walking up I saw his shoes and thought they were cool so I decided to start the contact with that.

"Hey cool shoes man!" It sounded like one of the cheesiest contact starts ever. But we kept talking and started talking about God. He told us that he had heard  about God but hadn't really seen his existence in his life and was indifferent because of that. We both testified about our experiences coming to know if God existed and the spirit was really strong. He was super interested, accepted a book, and almost begged us to come to his house. It was really a miracle to be able to contact someone like that. The whole day we were laughing that our best contact of the day started with "Hey cool shoes man!"

In the interchange I really wanted to be a great example because Elder "R" is relatively new and has a ton of potential to be a great leader and great missionary. So I wanted to have every person that we contacted at least talk to us a little bit. As we tried to contact 2 teenagers that were walking by they were talking and hard core ignoring us. I was kinda desperate trying to get them to talk to us and was getting kind of frustrated. That's when I saw that one of them had a pack of cookies and that they were both kind of fliete. So loosing my tone of respect I pulled our my fliete and said "Hey kid, can I have a cookie" (It doesn't sound as fliete in English). They were both so shocked that they stopped walking, opened the pack of cookies and gave me one. I couldn't believe that it worked to get his attention and that he actually gave me a cookie! I tried to share the gospel with them but they still didn't want anything. But at least they stopped and gave me a cookie!

All in all it was an incredible interchange and we really took out the trash! :)

But after the good times always come the tough ones. In my own sector we had a Murphy's law day.

We had worked all morning without having a successful contact or finding anyone who was interested. As we went to lunch our lunch called us saying that they wouldn't be ready until 3:30 which was late but still withing our schedule because we had an appointment at 4:30. Then as we were walking to lunch he called and said he wouldn't be ready until 4 or 4:15 ish. So we just cancelled lunch with him because we couldn't go that late. Then we started walking towards the appointment and we called to make sure that everything was okay because a member was going to go with us. But the appointment canceled. We were pretty hungry and frustrated so we decided to call our other investigator who was going to come back from Santiago and when she answered she said that she wasn't going to get home until Sunday night and wasn't going to come to church. We were so tired and frustrated after that that we decide to go buy completos for lunch. We walked for 25 minutes to get to the nearest completo store and when we got there.... That's right... It was closed! At that point we died and had no desire to keep going with anything. In the end we went and did service with our convert who then gave us completos. It was a long day but we kept persevering and got a couple lessons in.

All in all this week has been a really tough mental and physical week. But we will keep working hard and trucking on.

We just need your prayers because the kid that got baptized still hasn't gotten confirmed. His mom has changed all of a sudden and doesn't want to support him or receive visits from us any more. It was a drastic change and we still don't know why but we need all the prayers that we can get so that he gets confirmed.

But that was basically the week!

Love you all! Stay Golden!

Love,
Elder Nielson :)

Week 101: A mixed week of random thoughts, activities, and funny moments

Buenos Dias a todos!

This week was a interesting week of a lot of everything. So Ill just get started :)

I just wanna start wishing my Grandma Platt a super awesome happy birthday! I love you so much and hope that your birthday is just incredible! :)

Choripletos:
I love completos (hot dogs with tomato and avocado and mayonnaise and ketchup and mustard and hot sauce). I also love Choripanes (Little Chilean bread with sausages in them. So this week we decided to mix the two and make choripletos. We used the little sausages and little breads and added tomato, avocado, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard, and hot sauce. They were super delicious! I ate like 13 and my comp ate like 4. But they were super duper good. I'm thinking one of my greatest inventions ha ha :)

Happy Marriage card:
I forgot to mention this story last week. Last week in interchanges with the assistants we did a ton of contacts and were in the street all day. At the end of the day I was pretty bored and we were walking through a street with a bunch of young couple making out. We walked by a couple that was making out on a bench and we kept walking. I decided to have a little fun so I asked who wanted to help me do a contact. The new assistant said that he was down. I pulled out a contacting card that says "How can I have a happy marriage?" and went up to the couple who was making out. I tapped them on the shoulder and presented myself and gave them the card. We then proceeded to testify about the power of marriage in their lives and the blessings that the Lord would give them. They didn't want anything but it was super hilarious!

He was sick and tired!
Well this week on Wednesday we had finished interchanges and were eating lunch in the apartment. My comp said that he was tired so he ate half of his lunch and then went to sleep. After our hour was up I woke him up and he said that he didn't feel good at all so he called the nurse and she told him to take a rest and to relax. As he slept he started shivering a lot and felt worse and worse and worse. I started getting worried so I took his temperature a couple times and it kept going up and up and up. At 9 he felt really sick and I took his temperature and it was at 104! I couldn't believe it so I took it again and again and every time it came out at 104! He couldn't talk legibly to me and he had 0 energy and was still shivering. Not gonna lie I thought he was going to die. In the end we called presidents wife and she gave us permission to go to a hospital. The bishop was awesome and took us to the clinic and we got there at like 10 at night. Then president showed up with his wife and they stayed with us. While my comp was in doing his tests I was just talking and hanging out with the president's wife and it was super fun ha ha. We talked about a ton of stuff, played Mormon memory, and had a good time. She brought me a doctor pepper to keep me happy and it was awesome. Finally my comp came out. He had a bad fever, bronchitis, and the starting of Pneumonia (probably because the other day we were working in the pouring rain without umbrellas or raincoats). At 3 in the morning we finally got back to the apartment and he went to sleep. For the next 3 days he slept basically non stop while I cleaned the apartment, did informes, watched church videos, lifted weights, called the missionaries, etc. It was nice to rest but in the end I got really bored. But now he is feeling a lot better and everything is good.

Probably the best part of it all was the day after going to the hospital, President's wife brought us a ton of groceries with stuff that normally we are too poor to buy ahhh (Gatorade, Powerade, nutella, peanut butter, manjar, grilled chicken, french fries, cereal, yogurt, vegetables, fruit). She spoiled us so much.

That was basically our week! We still have to get "D" confirmed and we are trying to get our investigator "Y" to go to church this weekend so she can get baptized before I go home! :)

I love you all! Stay golden!

Love,
Elder Nielson :)

Week 100: I got the sniffles

Buenos Dias a Todos!

This week just flew by with lots to do and a lot happening.

This week was kind of tough because last Sunday (a week and a day ago) it was pouring and I got soaked. Well I got pretty doggone sick from it with a deep chest cough, head ache, and stuffy/runny nose. It made working really hard especially climbing the hills which made my lungs hurt. But we kept going and managed to not die.

This week we also had interchanges with the assistants. I was with 2 of them in their own sector and my companion was in our sector with one of them. It was a good day because we laughed and joked, and prayed, and contacted. The assistants almost never have time to work in their sector so they didn't have investigators so we contacted the whole day. In the mission we are supposed to try to get 20 contacts a day. We contacted 45 people. We worked super hard but no one wanted to let us in. In the end we taught one of their investigators really fast. At night we bought some pizza hut and it was really good!

We have a family of investigators and 3 of the 4 have accepted the invitation to be baptized. Today we have a visit and are going to get to know the last member of the family and we are going to invite her to be baptized as well. They are really receptive and loving but have a very very very basic knowledge of the gospel and of God. I believe that they can be ready for their baptism the 14th of August.

This week we are going to work hard and take out the trash and prepare everyone to be baptized! I gotta go out with a bang!

Sorry for the short letter! I love you all! Stay Golden!

Love,

Elder Nielson :)

Week 99: Backstreet's Back Alright!!!

Buenos Dias!

This week was a good crazy week!

On Monday and Tuesday we worked in a trio which was pretty awesome. We went to all the houses of our investigators and were able to enter because there were 3 of us. We taught "D" and got him ready for his baptism and did some searching for new investigators.

On Wednesday we had changes. We got the call that Elder Diaz was leaving and that he had to pack his bags. After a morning of saying goodbye to the converts and members we went to change meeting. Elder Diaz got sent to Achupallas and I was waiting for my new companion when something that I never thought would happen, happened. I got my new companion and he is... Elder Nasilai!! The Tongan that was my companion in Coquimbo. The one that would beat box and I would rap! We are comps again! Everyone in the change meeting was shocked!! It was super awesome.

So we already know each other so we are just starting to take out the trash! We have seen some miracles this week already. We have been trying to get into a house of some ex investigators that seem pretty good. It is a family of 4 and they are married and everything. Since I first got here I have been trying to get in to their house and hadn't had success. In 5 months i had never been able to get in. Well last night it was pouring rain and we decided to pass by. We rung the doorbell and they talked to us through the doorbell microphone thing and asked what the heck we were doing outside while it was raining. We answered doing missionary work and they asked if we wanted to come it. We said yes and just like that they let us in! They gave us cake and hot milk and we got to teach them a little bit. They don't want to commit to so many lessons each week but they accepted another one this Saturday and seem pretty receptive!

We also have been trying to teach another family that has 3 people who are old enough to get baptized and we have never been able to make a solid appointment. Well last night while we were working the spirit told me that we should pass by them (Instead of going to a less actives house where I knew they would invite us in to eat dinner and let us get out of the rain) but fighting my inner desire to get out of the rain we passed by them. When we got close to the house we saw them getting out of their car and we were able to talk to them a little bit. We managed to make a solid visit for this Wednesday and if everything goes well.

A funny moment from the week was when I first took Elder Nasilai to meet "K" and her kids. When we got there the house was in Chaos and it seemed like a tornado had hit. "K" was apologizing and saying that it normally wasn't that bad but that he had to have patience because the kids were crazy. Right when she said that her youngest son comes up walking really funnily and said "Embarrassment doesn't exist in this family" Then walked away. It was so hilarious!

On Sunday "D" GOT BAPTIZED!! It was a super good service and he was super happy. We are going to keep working with his mom to help progressing so that she can get baptized!

But that was basically our week! We are hoping to see some of the fruits of our Labors Soon! If you could pray that everything goes well with the families that we are going to try to teach that would help a lot!

I love you all! Stay Golden!

Love,
Elder Nielson :)

Week 98: Fun is in the small and simple things :)

Buenos Dias a Todos!

This week was a good week! We worked hard, and worked hard, and had success and miracles.

This week we were able to teach "D" the little boy that has a baptismal date for this next Sunday (the 17th). He is doing well. The hard part is that his mom has been finishing her semester of studies so she has been busy studying and hasn't been able to participate in the lessons so she will have to get baptized in a later date. He came to church this last Sunday so everything is good for his baptism this weekend.

This week we also saw a miracle! We went to go teach our recent convert "S" who got baptized like a month and a half ago. When we got there she wasn't home but we decided to talk to her mom about supporting her and helping her to go to church and to go to church activities. We had a good lesson with her and were about to leaver when her (basically husband but they aren't married because she has to get divorced from her first husband but laws here make it super difficult so they are just living together) showed up. We have shared with him a couple times but he sat down so we started sharing with him as well. In the end of a short simple lesson we felt the spirit tell us that we needed to invite them to church. When we invited them he said that he would like to go and committed to go the very next day. And the miracle is that he actually showed up the next day with his "Wife" and he liked church a lot. They are progressing very slowly, but I believe that they will get baptized eventually. It was fantastic that they went and he shared his testimony about the teachings of Jesus Christ being a light of hope in his life.

This week we remembered that fun is in the small and simple things. We had had a long day of work and walking in the street. As we were walking down the steep street to get to the house a collectivo (A taxi that runs a specific route so it is cheaper) passed by. After it went by I thought "Wow if I was in a collectivo I would get home a lot faster..." And I don't know why, but I decided to be a collectivo. I pretended like I was sitting down with my hands on the steering wheel and I started running down the hill. After I had taken a few steps  running my companion called out to me and told me to stop so I stopped. I thought he was telling me to stop because I was acting childish but instead he ran up behind me, acted like he was opening up the back door of the collectivo, and got in a sitting position behind me. Then we both ran down the hill as if I was driving a collectivo and as if he was sitting down in the back. We got to the house laughing our heads off. It was something so small and simple and stupid, but it made our day. Ever since that we have tried to make the most out of the small and simple moments.

Today one of our district leaders finished his mission and is going home so his companion is going to be with us until Wednesday so we are going to party hard! Night pizza parties and crazy moments. It is going to be a blast :)

Well this week I start my last 6 weeks of the mission. It still doesnt feel real which is super good. I get my trunky papers on Wednesday.

I love you all so much! Stay golden!

Love,
Elder Nielson :)

Week 97: Cuz Im Proud to be an American!!

Happy 4th of July!!!!!! AMERICA!!!!!

Well we are in something called... The Busqueda! (The search) which is the hardest longest part about the mission. It is when all of your investigators get baptized and you have literally no one to teach so you spend all day talking to people who yell at you until you find one who says you can come back another day and then repeat all day every day of the week. Lets just say my legs are super tired ha ha.

It was an interesting week because my stomach felt a little iffy so I didn't eat much which made me have a low energy level which just took away all enthusiasm I had to do the work. But the great thing is the week is over and we can start again! :)

We have " D"and his mom still but they haven't had much time to come to have lessons and they didn't come to church because it was raining (In Chile if it is raining it is the end of the world). So we will have to wait a little bit longer to help them get ready for their baptism.

That was basically the week. Nothing really happened but this next week will be a bunch better :)

The thing that saved me was reading Alma 7 in my studies today. He told me to pick up my game and get to work.

23 And now I would that ye should be humble, and be submissive and gentle; easy to be entreated; full of patience and long-suffering; being temperate in all things; being diligent in keeping the commandments of God at all times; asking for whatsoever things ye stand in need, both spiritual and temporal; always returning thanks unto God for whatsoever things ye do receive.

 24 And see that ye have faith, hope, and charity, and then ye will always abound in good works.

I realized that this week I had very few of the attributes that he said that we needed to have so I decided to pick up my game this week.

I know that the scriptures give us guidance and help when we need it. I know that if we humble ourselves and actually live the guidance that God gives us that he will complete with his promises and will change our lives and our heart. Keep reading the scriptures, keep living what you learn, and keep receiving the blessings and change of heart.

I love you all! Stay Golden!

Love,

Elder Nielson :)