Christmas Miracles

Hola Familia!!

It´s been a wonderful week. There´s been lots of fun, lots of sweating, and lots of spanish. Ánd we´ve found some awesome new investigators. Tuesday we were just knocking doors and stopped at one where the window was open. We said hello, introduced ourselves, and the lady inside didn´t say much but opened the door to let us in. We started talking and she is a very religious lady who has a lot of faith. We jumped right into the message of the restoration and she seemed to really enjoy it - and then accepted a baptismal date! Her name is A, she´s about 60 and has some rough experiences lately. But she has found great strength in God and in the bible. Yesterday she came to church!!

Wednesday all four of us missionaries went over to Presidente & Hermana Gira´s cute little house by the river to do service. We helped clear out their yard and cut grass, but only about 30 minutes into it Hermana Gira called us (the hermanas) in to help her make gnocchi´s. It was so fun and they were delicious!!

Thursday evening, at around 10 pm, we got on the bus along with the rest of our zone to head up to Bahia Blanca for the mission christmas conference! It was about a 4 hour drive and we tried to sleep but were pretty dead when we got in at 2 in the morning. The perk of being the only hermanas in the zone is when the APs came to the terminal they picked us up to take us to our place and the elders were left to fend for themselves. We stayed with the hermanas who serve in the area by the mission office. It was such a great day!! We started off splitting into two groups, and going to sing. My group went to a assisted living home for those with severe special needs run by some nuns. It was the cutest place. Also this guy played a few amazing guitar songs for us - imagine gypsy kings live. It was awesome, and such a cool ambiance, sitting there in a courtyard. And to feel of the innocent spirits of those people! Afterwards we met up with the rest of the missionaries and went to sing in the main plaza/park of Bahia Blanca. It was surrounded by really amazing old buildings, and we had people taking pictures and people from the local news. In that moment I was so happy to be here, experiencing Christmas Argentina style. I also made some new friends - a couple of hermanas standing next to me who had been visa waiters too and gave me some good advice. I also saw Hermana Hadley, my mtc hermana, and some of the hermanas and elders that I entered the mission with.

Afterwards they decorated the cultural hall in the mission office so beautifully and we had a christmas lunch, complete with motab christmas music in the backround. Then we had a talent show - there were funny skits, beautiful musical numbers, and even a dance. Then was the best part - President Parreno gave a devotional and spoke on the central message of christmas - LOVE! Jesus Christ descended below it all and came to earth because He loves us. And so this christmas we need to share the message of love. And then surprise, we all got letters from our parents!! That was my favorite part.

We got home late late that night. But something changed for me. As of saturday, my confidence is a little more back! I´ve been praying so hard to get into the work here, to love it and to have courage to open my mouth. And its happening. Yesterday we had the most amazing lesson just randomly with this cute young mom and her mother. The spirit was incredibly strong and for the first time I testified without feeling like the language was blocking me. It was amazing and felt so good. Each day gets better and better and with time I am coming to love this mission.

well, Feliz Navidad everyone! I hope its wonderful! Enjoy the cooler weather for me, it´s pretty hot down here. :)

Hermana Nelson

Personal notes

dad: Snow! Lucky!! Utah sounds fun. I shoulda had you visit my friends. Oh well. I´m glad you guys had a great time there. Thanks for the letter! I loved hearing about christmas in italy. Here I think it might be a little more worldly but we´ll see. 

mom: hooray for finishing school!! And vacations. It sounds like you guys are having a great time. I cant wait to skype! The area is a small town, it´s got a hoppin little centro but for the most part its small houses, all squished up next to each other. There are a lot of dirt roads. We walk a TON. There´s only one pair of shoes that works for the walking and they won´t live too long at this rate. :) I´ll tell you more about it tomorrow.

Matt&Angelica: It´s been a while since I´ve gotten a Skye picture!! Also will you guys be with mom and dad for christmas? I hope to see you on skype.

Paige&Jared: I LOVE those pictures! Your boys are adorable. Rykie especially looks super grown up. And Jared looks super skinny! haha.

Jake: Jake!!! Too busy having fun to write me?? How was good ol utah?