Thursday, March 13, 2014
March 10, 2014
hey!
it´s raining right now...
everyone sick huh? man. that sucks. sorry! if it makes you feel any better, i´ve had diarrhea for the last 361 days of my life! it all started on monday, march 11, 2013, when greg and i went with jake, christian, and matt to super china buffet haha. yikes. bet mistake of my life..
can you believe that i´ve been a missionary for a whole year!? crazy! half way done. thursday night im gunna burn a shirt! woo! a year ago, greg was staying home all day to watch prison break. man, i miss the good old days!
so on thursday this week, some random dude gave us a ride to the pueblo, which i obviously didnt deny.. as we were about to get outta the car, he said can i pray for you guys? we said yeah sure, dale (dah-lay) (it means go for it).. he starts out Oh eternal celestial father, beloved lord, jehovah papa, BLESS THESE YOUNG MEN AS THEY DO YOUR WORK. HEAL THEIR BODIES, TAKE AWAY THEIR DIABETES, HEAL THEIR KIDNEYS, THEIR BACK ACHES, THEIR KNEES, THEIR DIGESTIVE SYSTEMS, THEIR MINDS, GIVE THEM STRENGTH. TAKE AWAY ALL OF THE EVIL THAT SUROUNDS THEM. BLESS THEIR FAMILIES. HALLELUJAH!! JEHOVAH!! man. he was YELLING. but i mean, YELLING. for ten minutes straight. ten minutEs i a really long time to be yelling to god. man, it was nuts. when he started naming all of the random body parts to be healed, i was saying in my mind say shoulder say shoulder say shoulder hahah. i had faith in that dudes prayer. if he had said shoulder, i for sure would have been healed.... hahahah oh my gosh. it was so funny. wont forget that.
what else. i dont know. not too much happened this week. just routine. arroyo is really slow. i really hope my streak of being in my areas no more than 2 transfers keeps going. but, i figure that i´ll still be here for longer with my present comp becaue god has a sense of humor and does things that like :) haha. BUT, elder mello goes home at the end of this transfer, so there will be a space open in dominica. I´m hoping that i´ll make a comeback to dominica!! i really want too back. that´s for sure been my favorite place so far. pray for that!
my Portuguese book of mormon got here in the mail today. AHH YEAH. im gunna learn portuguese. elder tejeda speaks it fluently, so he´s been my teacher for the last little bit. woo hoo! O Livro De Mormon. Outro testamento de jesus cristo.
thats what i´ve got for this week. thanks for everything! i love you all!
have a great week!
Elder Nielson
president smartt,
this week was great! on wednesday, we were able to meet the mother of one of the members here in the branch. Her name is eugenia. we talked to her about the plan of salvation. apparently she has been an investigator for many years, but never has been baptized. we had a really good lesson with her and this sunday, she came to church! it made me so happy to see her there. we havent seen too many results of our hard work, but having her there was awesome. there was also a less active member named Carmen who came tp church this week with her 3 kids. all 4 of us missionaries here were super happy. Litle things like that make it all worth it.
On friday we went on exchanges, and i worked with Elder tejeda. he´s a really good missionary, and i really enjoyed the day that i had with him. we worked in patillas, and had some lessons with less active members. Elder tejeda is a lot like me, and i hink that´s why i enjoyed being with him. He has a really strong testimony, teaches really well, and uses his good personality to help him connect with the other people. I have noticed that sometimes missionaries try to change who they are and be super serious all of the time, but it sometimes seems like they´re being unnatural. but with elder tejeda, we were able to use our fun personalities to our advantage. Overall, great day!
this transfer hasn´t been an easy one, but overall i can´t complain. i know do complain a lot, but i´m trying to work on that. I´m really trying to work on gratitude and humility, which are definitely 2 things i can improve. And i can tell i´m definitely developing patience!
So this week i hit my one year mark. I have been thinking about what you said in my interview a while ago, and have been trying to set goals for the year that i have left. one goal is to strengthen my testimony of the atonement. I can tell that when i study the atonement, everything in life makes more sense. through studying the atonement, i have realized my need for developing more gratitude and humility. I am going to strive for that this year that i have left.
Anyways, thanks president for everything! Have a good week!
Elder Nielson
this week was great! on wednesday, we were able to meet the mother of one of the members here in the branch. Her name is eugenia. we talked to her about the plan of salvation. apparently she has been an investigator for many years, but never has been baptized. we had a really good lesson with her and this sunday, she came to church! it made me so happy to see her there. we havent seen too many results of our hard work, but having her there was awesome. there was also a less active member named Carmen who came tp church this week with her 3 kids. all 4 of us missionaries here were super happy. Litle things like that make it all worth it.
On friday we went on exchanges, and i worked with Elder tejeda. he´s a really good missionary, and i really enjoyed the day that i had with him. we worked in patillas, and had some lessons with less active members. Elder tejeda is a lot like me, and i hink that´s why i enjoyed being with him. He has a really strong testimony, teaches really well, and uses his good personality to help him connect with the other people. I have noticed that sometimes missionaries try to change who they are and be super serious all of the time, but it sometimes seems like they´re being unnatural. but with elder tejeda, we were able to use our fun personalities to our advantage. Overall, great day!
this transfer hasn´t been an easy one, but overall i can´t complain. i know do complain a lot, but i´m trying to work on that. I´m really trying to work on gratitude and humility, which are definitely 2 things i can improve. And i can tell i´m definitely developing patience!
So this week i hit my one year mark. I have been thinking about what you said in my interview a while ago, and have been trying to set goals for the year that i have left. one goal is to strengthen my testimony of the atonement. I can tell that when i study the atonement, everything in life makes more sense. through studying the atonement, i have realized my need for developing more gratitude and humility. I am going to strive for that this year that i have left.
Anyways, thanks president for everything! Have a good week!
Elder Nielson
March 3, 2014
what up familia!
so, to start, i am really happy to hear that mom is an office addict. it makes me pumped haha. shes on season 9 and i'm still on 5 i think. or 6. i dont remember. i'll catch up soon.
so, no church again huh? i really wish we had snow here. i'm still melting under the 90+ degree weather here in the south of PR. it's ridiculous!
so this week. not too much happened. friday i had to do exchanges with the zone leaders, so elder lugo (colombia) came down from barranquitas and my companion went up to be with elder baldwin. we can just say that friday was the best day i've had in the last 3 weeks! i was happy all day long! it was wonderful! haha. elder lugo and I visited a less active lady in our ward, hna Rosa, who has been in active for like 3 or 4 years. she loves us, always cooks for us, and loves to have us over. her husband, hno pedro, is the most loyal member that we have here in Arroyo. Never fails. always here at church, noche de hogar, everthing.. but his wife, super inactive. she says that her husband isnt a good example of a christian, so to punish him, she doesnt go to church. ridiculous, i know. but it's what we have to deal with as missionaries haha. you wouldnt believe over half of the reasons why people go less active.. anyways, we had an AWESOME lesson with her about the sacrament and the holy ghost, and she said "you know what, i'll be at church this sunday." woo hoo!!! i was so pumped. until sunday.. hah. she didnt come. man, it made me so sad. i wish i just had all of the answers to give to people so they would just come! Ahh! sometimes i think the plan to take away everyones agency was a good idea! haha kidding. but for real. Just come!
no, i havent gotten the package yet. i went today, but there wasnt anything there. transfers are the 25 of march, so theres still time.
last night i had a meeting in san juan, with all the leaders of the mission. i saw a bunch of the people that were in the mtc with me. but freakin elder moore bailed on me and didnt show up. little poop stain. elder dypwick said that i look like a clown because my suit is so big on me now. took it as a compliment.
hey, can you guys find me sam stucki's email address? and bishop tanner? and bishop woodward? i wanna say what up to those guys.
can you believe it's march alreay? in 10 days i will have been out for a whole year! also, elder jewkes goes home that day. crazy!
so president lebron asked me to play the hymns in church yesterday again. i really hope this doesnt turn into a regular thing. i played josephs smiths first prayer, come follow me, and let the holy spirit guide. woooo.
so remember sister felix? the one in my group who got in a car accident and had to be reassigned to the florida mission? she had to go home again, so now shes done for good. she was super sick and had to go to the hospital a few times. the doctors dont know whats wrong with her, the tests haven tbrought anything up yet. just keep her in your prayers!
so for the whole heavenly mother thing. this is what we know. D&C 131:1-4 says that in order to reach the highest part in the celestial kingdom (exaltation), we must be married. D&C 132:15-17 says that if we arent sealed in the temple, we will just be angels for ever, we wont reach exaltation. D&C 132:20-24 says that we will be gods. the plan of salvation is centered in families. why? that's the only way we'll be able to continue having children and progress on and on.. if god didnt have a wife, how would he have children? if god didnt have a wife, why would he command us to be sealed in the temple, to live with our spouse for all eternity? how did god become god? he was a man like us before, and reached exaltation? how did he reach exaltation? he had faith, repented, was baptized, received the holy ghost, got married, endured faithfully to the end, and reached exaltation. now obviously, that is pretty in depth for a new convert, but to answer your question, yes, we do have a heavenly mother. to say that HF doesnt talk about her because he's afraid of her name being mistreated isnt doctrine, but if you want to explain it that way, be my guest haha. it works for little kdis, not so sure about adults though.. you just got to think about it. why does HF have such a strict law of chastity? because he has given us the ability to create life, the same way that he can. it's amazing. that's why it's so important. hopefully that helps.. haha
anyways, have a good week! thanks for all of the love! tell grandma and grandpa that i'm sorry, but i dont have a ton of time to respond to them. next week!
love you lots! GO BLUE!
Elder Nielson
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
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