April 28, 2014

¡Hola familia!

What an interesting week its been. The weather decided to get the best of me and give me a real nice cold! I was sick for quite a few days, we would go out when we could or for appointments but besides that my companion made me stay home and rest. It was super weird - I´ve been reminded how amazing naps are. But I´m feeling a ton better now.

V and her family are still doing pretty well, progressing slowly but still moving in the right direction. Sadly they couldn´t come to church again this weekend because the grandma was in town. But no worries, all in the Lord´s time!

I can´t remember if I mentioned already but we´ve been teaching this lady named L who is super sweet and humble. This week we invited her to be baptized and she accepted! She is really great, and at the last lesson she said the closing prayer and thanked God for the hermanas who listened and helped her feel better about the hard things going on in her life.

We had a great noche de hogar (family home evening activity with the branch) this week, on a topic that I love. We talked about testimonies - how they help us have the spiritual strength to pass through trials, and the way in which we can gain/develop them. So many feel like they don´t have a testimony, or aren´t spiritually in tune, because they´ve never had a crazy miraculous experience. But the Lord doesn´t usually work that way. Rather, our testimonies come line upon line, over time and with desire and effort. I read a talk by Elder Bednar on the Spirit of Revelation the other morning and I love what he says:

"In many of the uncertainties and challenges we encounter in our lives, Godrequires us to do our best, to act and not be acted upon (see 2 Nephi2:26), and to trust in Him. We may not see angels, hear heavenly voices, orreceive overwhelming spiritual impressions. We frequently may pressforward hoping and praying—but without absolute assurance—that we areacting in accordance with God’s will. But as we honor our covenants andkeep the commandments, as we strive ever more consistently to do goodand to become better, we can walk with the confidence that God will guideour steps. And we can speak with the assurance that God will inspire ourutterances. This is in part the meaning of the scripture that declares,“Then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God”

We  played a game where we hid pieces around the chapel of a picture and they had to find them all, and then put the picture together. We related that to gaining a testimony - it comes by searching it out piece by piece, but in the end we come to find that we have the full picture - of the reality of Jesus Christ!

The work is great. Also, something amazing happened this last week! I was heard talking in castellano in my sleep. That was pretty exciting for me. :)

I love you all!!

Hermana Nelson

Milagros de Pascua

¡Hola Familia!

This week was a great one! I can never believe how fast they fly by and before I know it I´m here writing another email. I´ll try and capture a few things that went on this week.

V and the boys went out of town for the weekend, so we missed them a lot and they couldn´t make it to church. However, before they left we had a really awesome lesson and taught on the importance of daily scripture study, especially as a family. I felt so fortunate to be able to testify from experience that I know what a huge difference family prayer and scripture study makes! Even though I may not remember the specific words or scriptures, I remember the devotion of my parents to the gospel and their desire to put the Lord first in our home. Thanks mom and dad! Also, I turned 8 on monday, and we stopped by to give him a treat - he was so happy. He and N are the coolest kids - N especially, there aren´t so many 14 year old boys that are so grounded! So many here are already involved in drugs and whatnot at that age. This family however, is so prepared.

The other day we went out tracting with G again, the awesome recent convert of the elders, and finally found all of the familia B at home. They are both so cool, really great people, and we had an awesome lesson talking about the commandments and we invited them to church. Not sure what happened sunday, because they didn´t make it. But I can see that they are getting closer and one day it´ll happen!

Easter sunday brought two miracles to church! The first was T, a young man of 16 years. He has been listening to us for a little while now, but has been a little on and off. This week we met his dad and he was super nice! He said for us to come by any time. They lived in Utah 10 years ago, near Pleasant Grove! They have really good memories of how the mormons received them and helped them out. Awesome. You never know how little acts of kindness are preparing people to receive the gospel! We are excited for this family.

N, a lady we contacted one day, also came for 3rd hour. We called her in the morning and she showed up! we haven´t even taught her yet. This week we will though. :)

Anyways, the Lord sure is blessing us and the work is moving forward. We are also having so much fun! Sometimes I get the giggles during contacts (so embarassing) and other times Elder Chauque falls out of his chair during a practice teaching in district meeting. Hermana Tovar and I are just laughing all the time. Sure the hard days come, satan tries to get me down, but the Lord is always there to lift me back up when I come to Him in prayer. There is not a doubt in my mind that He lives and loves us. This church is guided by Him, the gospel is true, and He is Risen!!

I love you all,

Hermana Nelson

April 14, 2014

!Hola familia!

What a great week this was. In case anyone is counting, I passed my 11 month mark on tuesday. :) CRAZY!! For those of you who don´t do math, that means only 7 months yet! Sometimes I really feel the time, exhaustion is constant and all I want to do is sleep. But I just feel this sense that my time is so sacred, I don´t want to waste a minute!

The biggest news from this week is that Vanessa and her boys are doing so so good. We had an amazing lesson with them on wednesday. We brought the movie of Joseph Smith, the long one that goes through his life all the way to the martyrdom. I just love that movie. Little I had a bit of a hard time staying still and his mom kept saying, "sit still and pay attention! I´m trying to watch!" haha. They really enjoyed it. After it ended, hermana Tovar and I bore our testimonies of the restoration of the gospel, and of Joseph Smith. It was so powerful - I was so full of peace and joy, and then to see both V and N with tears in their eyes as we bore testimony was incredible. There is not a doubt in my mind that we are here in large part for them - they were prepared for this! V told us that just before she had been feeling like something was missing from her life and wanted to find a church but didn´t know which to go to. And then by a fluke she found us! The Lord works in mysterious ways. And they all came to church on sunday! woohoo! We have a great relationship with them, whenever we are at their house we always end up eating something and just having fun.

The weather has been a little rough this week, last monday it POURED rain for the whole day and night and we had to fight off the water in our house. We went out tracting and at every door we knocked they looked at us like we were crazy and told us to go home so we won´t get sick. It was a great night though and besides getting soaked through we had a great lesson with N. She and her husband are amazing, just so hard to find and work on sundays!! Miracles happen though.

That´s the biggest news for the week. The work is good, the hard days come of course and when I start getting down on myself the Lord picks me back up. I know without a doubt that He is with us, and will never leave us alone.

I love you all!

Hermana Nelson

Buenas Noticias

!Hola querida familia!

Guess what! Miracles happen! Transfers were this last weekend, and we were so sure it was time for a change... but no! Hermana Tovar and I are staying put in the promised land of Carmen de Patagones. :) Hooray! It´s super unusual to have the same companionship in the same area for so long, so we were so surprised. And so so happy.

It has been a wonderful week. The biggest part of that has been the amazing family we have been teaching! Maybe you remember V from the last email - the young mom who is super awesome. Anyways, this week her two boys came back from their trip and we got to meet them! N is 14 years old, but is so mature and hna Tovar and I have been so impressed by how great he is. (future missionary!!!) I is 7, and is the cutest, funniest little boy. Also... he turns 8 this week so can be baptized with his family. :) Another miracle! Anyways, they are so much fun to teach. The read the book of mormon together, and V is such a great mom. And on saturday they came together to a session of conference! Basically we love them already so much, and teaching families is the best ever.

We had a really sweet experience with M, the 12 year old girl I mentioned before, this week. It´s a long story (no worries, you´ll get to hear the details when I´m home) but basically monday night we took her out to get an ice cream and just talk. We had barely walked out the door when she started pouring out her heart to us about all the terrible things she had passed through. It is so apparent that we are the first people who not only listen to hear but also sincerely care about her. She put her arms around us and said, "las quiero. Ustedes son mis mejores amigas" (I love you. You guys are my best friends). Sunday she came with us and the yw president to the first session of conference. This little girl is definitely one of the biggest reasons why we are staying here. She deserves love and attention.

General Conference was AMAZING!!!!!!! It just flew by, and I loved each and every moment. The Patagones/Viedma branches all came to the chapel in Viedma to watch, and they had a little room with the transmission in english for all the yankee missionaries. :) There are about 9 of us. I was so happy to be able to hear it in english. I can´t even say which talk was my favorite, there were so many! And I can tell you that I received so many answers to my questions, and answers I didn´t even know I was seeking. I loved Elder Holland´s talk, it was just the encouragement I need, as does every missionary and member, to keep going and keep testifying even when we face so much rejection and sometimes anger. A common theme that I noticed was that of how to receive a testimony, or how to be truly converted. That´s something I´ve been studying a lot lately. This last week I read the book of Enos in the Book of Mormon and this thought came to me: Being truly converted only comes through WORK. We cannot just ask once and then sit waiting for a testimony to come knocking at the door. First we must remember what we have heard and learned. Then we must desire it! We have to want to know for ourselves. Then comes the work part - as Enos did, praying with all his heart and soul for a day and a night. Sometimes it even takes longer. We must be PERSISTENT, PATIENT, and PRAYERFUL. It doesn´t come easy because it is a gift of such great value. The best things in life don´t come easy, right? But it is so worth it. That´s something I want to tell to every member, every investigator, everyone. Don´t give up! The Lord is so willing and ready if we put in our part of the effort.

On a lighter note, this week I discovered that I am a pretty good pranker. April Fool´s day was a great success for me. :) I tricked my companion into thinking I was getting emergency transferred, later we tricked the elders into believing that we were getting in trouble with president for something they did wrong in the branch, and then I told my district leader that night that I couldn´t stand my companion any more and she was so mean to me. Don´t worry, we also worked that day. :)

Anyways, I love you all, and I love this work. I know without a doubt that this is the Restored church of Jesus Christ. He lives!!

love,

Hermana Nelson