Week 51: Just Keep Swimming!!

Buenos dias a todos! :)

This week was a good week of good old work :) We spent lots of time making appointments going to appointments, the people not being there so we do contacts, going to their house the next day, making another appointment and so on and so forth. We have found some good future investigators and some good references, but we dont really have anyone progressing right now, just a couple first lessons with some people :) 

This week we had a small zone meeting which was fun to see some of the missionaries in the zone. We watched part of Finding Nemo and applied it to following the spirit to find the people looking for the gospel. It was entertaining and interesting to see how even disney movies can apply to the gospel haha :) 

This week Pablo got Confirmed and is now a member of the church! It is going to be great to see him keep progressing and growing in testimony. Next week he sould get the priesthood and be able to pass the sacrament and things that are similar. 

Besides that we really didnt have much go down this week. We are still working and laughing and enjoying life. Sometimes I think I bug my companion or that there is something that he doesnt like but he doesnt tell me that there is anything. We will see how it goes, but he is good :) 

I am kinda sick so prayers for health would be nice, but besides that I am all good :) 

Well a picture speaks louder than words so I will just send alot of pictures this week :)

I love you all! Stay Golden!

Love,

Elder Nielson

Week 50: Baptism!! Trash Bags!

Buenos Dias!

This week was a cold rainy week! But it ended with a baptism which made it all better! :)

This weekend Pablo got baptised! It was a great baptism and the spirit was super strong. In the end when Pablo bore his testimony about the book of Mormon and feeling the spirit while he read the spirit was stronger than ever. Not only was it spiritual but also funny :) When P was getting baptised his arm (elbow) was sticking out of the water and he wasn't putting it down, so my companion basically pile drove him so that he went all the way under the water. Right afterwards everyone started laughing. But at the same time the spirit was there so it was a good mix :)

This week I had interchanges with my zone leaders. At the end of Interchanges your leaders always make goals with you to help you get better and to improve something. In the end of the interchange I received what could possibly be the hardest goal I have had... To not use "Po." The Chileans after lots of words or answers say "Po" like if you asked them if they liked lunch they don't say "Si (Yes)" they say "Si po". Anyways because I am in a sector that is pretty poor and flaite they say "Po" all the time and I have started saying it, and I cant stop. Supposedly as missionaries we shouldn't use po, but i cant stop saying it. So my goal is to stop using "Po."

This week it has rained hard all week which made the mission work hard, cold, and wet. Because My raincoat got robbed I decided to make my own raincoat out of trash bags. It was pretty sweet, I Cut it and sealed it with the iron and even made a hood. I used it for a day, but then I decided it wasn't worth it. But then I found out that my big coat is waterproof, so we are all good :) But the storm has been so strong that some peoples houses got blown off. We were walking down the street and the 3rd story of someones house got blown off and it landed in the street. Luckily we got there after it had already happened, but it has been a crazy storm. 

This week we had English class and it was awesome and hilarious. There are some gringos that live in our sector that can barely speak Spanish even though they have lived here for a year. We teach them Spanish at the same time that we teach some people English. It is great because they can practice together and the class is fun, but the gringos are kind of weird and have no shame so they say the funniest things and we always die laughing. 

My comp is awesome. We laugh and make jokes in the street, in the apartment, and we get along really well.  :) 

That was my week! I have tons of pictures to send, but when I went to plug in my camera I realized I left the cord in the apartment, so I will have to send them all next week! 

But I love you all! Stay golden!

Love,

Elder Nielson :)

Week 49: Changes!!!

Hola Buenos Dias a Todos!

This week was a great week full of lots of changes and good tidings of great joy :) 

This week on Wednesday we had changes! I am still district leader in Quebrada verde but I have a new companion and some of my district is new. but to start:

My Companion: My companion is Elder F, he was born in Argentina but moved to Canada when he was 7. He has been in Chile for 4 and a half months and is a great missionary.  He is awesome and we are going to have a good change together.  He also has a very strong Argentinean accent which is sticking, so its most likely that I will finish the mission with an Argentinean accent ha ha. But it is helping me a lot with my Spanish. He is fun which is definitely a plus :) I really believe that we are going to have a great change together.

My new District: I still have the sisters Hna S (California) and Hna A (Peru). But they are in a different sector. They are good sisters but are a little bit shy with people and are a little bit discouraged, but my companion and I made a plan to help the district get more pumped. But the big change is that the zone leaders aren't in my district and I have another pair of elders. That means that I get to do interchanges every week! I have to go to their sector or they come to my sector for one day a week to work. This last week I had an interchange with Elder M who is from Londrina Brazil and my companion was with Elder R in their sector. It was fun to meet another elder and work with him. He is awesome and we had a good time and worked hard. It is weird because it made me feel like an older missionary ha ha, but I feel like I just started ha ha :) 

Our investigators are doing well! We have P who is going to get baptized this Sunday! :) And this last Sunday we found a family of 3. The dad is Chilean, the mom is from Colombia, and the child is 8. C, E, and A. They are awesome. The dad doesn't have a strong belief in religion or God or Jesus, but the mom believes in them. But the dad is interested in learning and knowing if it is true. We will see how they progress!

I love you all and hope you have a fantastic week! Stay Golden! :)

Love,

Elder Nielson :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 48: The Potty Dance!

Hola Buenos Dias! :)

This week was a good week, we had some miracles, some spiritual guidance, and some laughs :)

This week I had an experience with the Book of Mormon where I received more testimony on its ability to guide us with exactly what we need. We went to a Family Home Evening with a less active person. We had invited him to read the Book of Mormon and when we asked if he had read he said no. When people say that to us we have to get really sad and have a lesson about why it is important to read The Book of Mormon. It is really frustrating when they don't read because we cant progress with the lessons or help them understand more, because it is pointless to build a house without a base. Anyways we were about to read a part when his mom said "Actually we were reading in a different chapter with you guys last time" I knew that she was wrong, but the spirit told me to do with what she said so we started reading from that chapter. We had decided to read and analyze the part with him so that he could see how to receive guidance from the Book of Mormon and that we can learn a lot in a short amount of time. We started reading and analyzing the part, and it ended up being perfect. It was a part about Lehi being given a book by an angel and being told to read it. After reading it he was "filled with the spirit" and was given warning what to do with his family (Flee to the Desert). That part was perfect because it showed many of the blessing that we can receive by reading the Book of Mormon. It was so powerful because by reading the scriptures, we learned what we receive by reading the scriptures. It was perfect and the spirit was so strong. I know that I was guided by the spirit to agree to read that part so that all of us could see the power and the truth of the Book of Mormon.

This week we found an investigator who is going to get baptized on the 9th of August! :) P is a reference from some members who are coming back to church. He lives with them and has lived with them for a couple years. He is 22 and is basically adopted, but isn't adopted. He lives with them because his parents didn't care about him when he was little so he went to live with his grandma, but she died some years ago so the members invited him to live with them :) He is amazing and has done and kept every invitation that we have given him. He came to church and felt the spirit and felt so good! He is excited for his baptism :)

He also taught us "The bathroom dance." It was a hilarious moment because he was telling us a story about his aunt. One day she was in the bathroom on the second story when there was an earthquake. Because the house was kind of old the bathroom gave out and everything fell to the first floor. When her husband went to check on her she was still sitting on the toilet in shock. She was so shocked that she was staring straight ahead making an "O" with her mouth, making a clicking noise, and rubbing her closed fists together (As if trying to make electricity with your knuckles). It was a hilarious story and even more funny when he re-enacted the dance. We were laughing so hard that we adopted the dance as our happy bathroom dance :)

This week we received the sad news that the sisters in my district are having their sector closed. So now after starting with 4 sister missionaries and 2 elders I am down to 2 elders haha! I don't know what I did wrong! ;) I just hope that I get some more missionaries this next change :)

Changes are this Wednesday so we will see what happens! :)

I love you all! Stay golden!

Love,
Elder Nielson :)

Week 47: When are the elders going home? Cuz I want them to go home now!

Buenos Dias!

This week we had a lot of time in the street working and looking for people. We left 7 of our investigators because we had tried to make appointments with them, or they weren't progressing, so now we are looking for more. 

Aside from that not much happened. Lots of street work. But as we worked in the street we had a couple interesting experiences.

There are lots of drunk people in the streets in our sector so we generally have drunk people asking us for money. But this week we ran into a lady who was drunk. She started to talk to us and tell us that she is a member. We started trying to talk about that but quickly realized how drunk she was. She talked nonsense for a couple minutes and then tried to kiss us!! It was absolutely hilarious because the sister missionaries always have troubles with drunk guys trying to kiss them but this is the first time a drunk lady has tried to kiss me! She leaned in and tried to kiss my companion first. We told her no and that we cant do that. After thinking for a second she said "You can if it comes from the heart!" I almost started laughing, but knew that that would be a bad idea so we explained to her that we have rules. It was funny because after that she started following us. I didn't know what to do, but then there was a little old lady and she was walking in the street and the drunk lady yelled "Grandma!" And went and kissed the old lady (But the old lady was obviously not her grandma) The old lady began to yell at her and tell her to go away. We used the old lady distraction to run away and get away from the Drunk lady ha ha :)

Then When we were visiting a family the little girls got mad at us because they had to turn the TV off. After a couple minutes of talking she came out and asked her mom "When are the Elders going home?" And her grandma asked her why she said "Cuz I want them to go home now!" after hearing such hurtful words we made the joke that we were never going to leave! After hiding some of her toys and messing with her we got ready to leave and she asked why we were leaving.  We explained that we were going to keep working and then she got sad. "But I thought you weren't going to leave! She told us we had to come back the next day and bring our PJ's so that we could stay. It was hilarious :)

We don't have any investigators but we got a great reference and we have an appointment today with them :) 

I love you all! Stay Golden!

Love,

Elder Nielson :)

Week 46: Karma! It catches up to you!

Buenos Dias!! 

This week was a week full of different activities and experiences, but most of all it was full of Karma hah :)

This week on interchanges I was with a zone leader. We went to a lesson with a convert of 2 years and had a lesson about the word of wisdom. He has a problem with drinking wine and said that he was going to live the word of wisdom and only drink a little bit the next day. We explained that that wasn't living the word of wisdom and invited him to live the word of wisdom again. He said that he would but that he wasn't going to get rid of the wine in his house. While his back was turned I silent talked with my zone leader asking if I should take the half bottle of wine so that he wouldn't be tempted to drink it. My zone leader said yes so I hid the half bottle of wine in my sweater and then we left. We dumped it out in the street and then threw the bottle away! But It was so funny! We really helped him live the word of wisdom ha ha :) 

But because I did that Karma came and I got robbed. This week we had a zone conference with president. While we were in the meeting someone entered the room where all our stuff was being kept and robbed the wallet of a sister missionary, the camera of a different missionary, and my scripture bag and rain coat. So now I have to walk around with my backpack because my shoulder bag was robbed :( In the bag was my raincoat, pictures of my family and friends, and sunscreen, nothing too important but it was still kinda dumb. But at least it wasn't a wallet or a camera like the other missionaries. 

This week I was super tired and exhausted after lots of work. In the night I was saying my prayer. I start my prayers and 11 and usually finish at about 11:30. But I started my prayer a little bit early at 10:50 and was praying then all of a sudden, I woke up! I looked at the alarm clock and it said 12:30. I had fallen asleep praying ha ha! I Tried to straighten out my legs and I couldn't! I had lost all circulation and had to wait like 10 minutes to get the blood flowing again in order to lie down ahah :) 

As a District leader I have the wonderful opportunity and responsibility of interviewing investigators that want to be baptised and giving them the approval or not. This week I was able to interview one the the investigators of the zone leaders. It was an awesome interview. The spirit was so strong as she bore her testimony to me about how she came to know that the Book of Mormon is true and how she came to know that the church is true. I know that god will answer our prayers and will always testify of the truths. She passed the interview and got Baptised on Sunday :)

Our new president is awesome, he is humble, silly, and super loving. And his thing is he wants people to be able to speak many languages. He told me that I speak well enough that he wants me to start studying Portuguese! So in the end of my mission I am hoping to be fluent in Spanish, English, and Portuguese :) It would be super awesome :)

This week "M" and "A" got baptized! It is really a miracle that that happened because the day before the baptisms Alejandro told us that he didn't know if he wanted to be baptised. The thing is that he wanted to be baptised but his girlfriend doesn't like the church and doesn't like him living the commandments. After having a crazy spiritual and intense lesson he still wasn't sure. We invited him to pray and ask if it is something he should do. The next morning we called him and he said he was going to get baptised. He came to church and afterwords told us. I prayed and received my answer and that is why I am going to be baptised today. Thank you for everything that you have done :) I know that God will always answer our prayers. And the two boys got baptized!ª :)

I know that God exists and Loves us. I know that he wants to bless us with all that he has but that he wants us to follow him in order to receive those blessings. I know that that path is found in the restored church of Jesus 

Christ. Anyone, member or non member can know if this is true through reading the book of Mormon and by praying to God to ask if it is true. If you do it and are willing to follow the answer that you get, I testify as a representative of Jesus Christ that you will receive the answer. You will feel a peace, an unexplainable sensation that you haven't felt before. I know that it is true through my own experience and I invite you all to experiment and look for that answer :)

I love you all :) Keep strong and stay golden :)

Elder Nielson :)

Week 45: I got Robbed! Special Conference, and Copa America Champions!

Buenos Dias!

This week was a great week full of different experiences! :)

This week I got robbed! Luckily it wasn't anything super valuable :) I was walking in a sector that is poorer than all of the other sectors and we had just finished lunch. For dessert the lady had given us an apple and as I was walking I started to eat my apple. Before I could take more than 2 bites and man came up and started yelling at me and took my apple and ran away. So it wasn't anything valuable, but I was still kinda frustrated that he took my apple ;) After the experience we were talking to a member about it and they said he did it to show his authority and to show us that we were in his area. 

This week in the same area we ran across a couple people peeing in the street. It isn't super common but it isn't rare. But just so you know what kind of things we run across ha ha :) 

This week was a great week for lessons. We had many lessons (8) with investigators and I was able to feel the spirit really strong. This week I really focused on teaching the investigators what they needed to change their life and to receive the blessings of the lord rather than teach them the material. That is a big difference between having the spirit in the lessons or not. If we teach them how the gospel and god can bless their lives the spirit can testify more personally to the person. After all the lessons I felt very good with what we had taught. We have many investigators and 2 are going to be baptized this Sunday! The 2 older brothers of the little girls are going to be baptized this weekend! It has been so amazing to see their change :) 

This weekend we had a special conference and the branches became wards and the district became a stake (If you don't understand those words you can find the nearest missionaries and they will be more than happy to explain them) :) Jorge Zaballos a Seventy came to do it. He talked about many things and I could feel the spirit super strong. It was a great testimony about the callings of the lord. 

This weekend I also received a testimony about fasting. Chile is having a drought and it hasn't rained in almost a year so this last fast Sunday all the members in Chile were fasting to have rain. After finishing the special conference on Sunday we went to leave and... It was raining! I know that the Lord answered the prayers and the fasts of all the members and he did it Immediately. I know that the lord will grant us what we need if we are willing to fast and pay our fast offerings.

These past couple weeks the Copa America (A big south American soccer tournament between all the countries) has been going on. Well on Saturday Chile played in the final against Argentina... And they won the Copa America for the first time in History! It was so crazy! It happened when we were in the special conference and when we left the streets were flooded with people screaming and celebrating and honking :) I am part of History! :) 

It was a good week and the next week will be as well because of the baptisms! :)

You guys are awesome, I love you all :) Stay Golden :)

Love,

Elder Nielson :)