Dia de Diamantes!!‏

Whoo..

For once in my life, I feel calm at this computer, the difference is, I prayed for help, and so far I¨m doing a pretty good job at managing my time, ha, such a simple thing, but it really just stresses me out to try to respond to your emails and share some of these awesome experiences with you all.

Okay, so I would have to say this has been one of the most Babylonic weeks of my entire life, festivas de España are intense! And that is why this week and I am MOST grateful for the safe haven of our capilla (chapel) that I was able to feel yesterday in our Sunday reunions. I love our ward so much, we had our fast and testimony meeting yesterday, and we just have these rock solid members, not a single gap at the microphone... I will always remember these people, many of them our really new members, but their faith and the way they put God first in their lives amazes me. Not to mention, our sweet little Lucia, that was baptized two Sundays ago is now serving in the Relief Society Presidency, increible, this woman is a rock, like she just gave up smoking last month and now she´s preparing for the temple with an eye single to the glory of God. And I¨m sorry, we don´t really use last names here, but there´s this family, Rosi, Carmen, Monolo, and they were the strongest catholics and now are the strongest Mormons, and they´re still waiting upon their other siblings to choose this path, but they don´t doubt. The thing that I love about these converts is that they don´t take anything for granted, they´ve been searching and preparing for this Gospel their entire lives, even though they didn´t realize it, and now that they have it, they´re never looking back!

Anyways, just a heads up, today is the first day of our new traslado (transfer) and I am extremely grateful to report that I get to be with Hermana Ross for another six weeks, she´s been in Murcia for seven months already and so we really weren´t sure if she´d be leaving or not.. And don´t tell her, but I prayed a lot of times that she could stay here in Murcia, she´s just what I need, and obviously Heavenly Father agrees, on the day of transfer calls from President, I was so nervous, ready to drop my heart at any moment if we got a call from President, but we didn´t!! Anyways,

K, sorry for the rambling.. This week! Okay, I say Babylonic, because it was another entire week of festivas! Except this time it wasn´t Easter related, Spring instead! So Tuesday, we had a bit of a forewarning, it was supposed to be some kind of a Mardi Gras, and so we planned smart and set tons of citas (appointments) to avoid being stuck in the streets with the borachos (drunk people) but guess what, everybody and fallared us (direct translation, not sure, failed, didn´t show up) and so we tried to visit members and menos activos, but our plan B was weak, and so Tuesday was kind of a rough day. There´s a not a lot of value, let me rephrase, there is NO value in trying to contact the borachos or the people around these areas, so we were taking a lot of back streets and trying to find others. It was just really sad to see, I mean this holiday, used to be a beautiful Spanish tradition, all of the girls and guys dress up in the traditional vestidos and they have, of course, a bunch of parades. BUt now it´s all about the alcohol and the jovenes (young people). Solo para que sepa, just so you know, it´s the busiest day in the hospital, and as we were contacting we overheard a couple groups rushing off to visit their unconscious friends in the hospitals.. Needless to say, kind of a dark and dreary day.

Things brightened up though! As en entire mission we had set apart this last Friday, Dia de Diamantes (Day of Diamonds) to only contact or tract for the ENTIRE day, we found out about this about 10 days in advance, so we were all pumped up, we fasted as a mission the day before so that we could have more direction in where to go finding and set goals for the numbers of futuros that we wanted to find! And as a mission, we found 1400 people, in this day, that are que tiene interes para aprender acerca del Evangelio de Jesucristo, as in 1400 people offered us their telephone number and direccion (address) , we refer to these people as futuros!! It was one of the most exciting days, our President had promised that we would see miracles and that we will baptize people that we would find on this day. It was the best, that morning when H Ross and I left the piso (apt.) we were stoked, we had fasted and prayed, and selected specific streets for each hour and we reallly did find a lot of people. It´s just a matter now of deciding who to focus on and go visit! We had so much fun though, we talked to hundreds of people, I heard my first swear words, since being set apart as a missionary, not my favorite at all.. Anyways

As far as our investigators go, we really had a lot of opposition, we´re coming up on Mari´s date for baptism, and we were only to meet with her once this week, not without a LOT of attempts, and Andrea, her daughter, we´ve set up 3 different citas to teach the Law of Chastity and the 10 commandments with them together, and they keep fallaring us, so it´s been frustrating. But we´re not giving up on em.

Also, this week we taught a mother and son, for the first time, Jean and Tania, they´re from English class, and they´re awesome! We set a date for baptism for the two of them, Jean is only 11 but he has sincere concern about his salvacion, I love that, we´ve seen that with several investigating families, a lot of the times it´s the children trying to push their parents along! Whatever it takes right?

Well, I gotta run, I hope you enjoy the photos!! Love you all,

Hermana Nelson

Familia!!‏

Woo..

There´s a lot, I feel like I¨ve really been neglecting to share about the Spanish and better yet Murcian culture, so I thought I´d offer a few descriptions. Murcia, is a relatively big city, H Ross and I cover the central and souther portion and the other Elders Get the Northern half and pueblos, and we also have like 4 or 5 pueblos ourselves.. Which are just smaller little towns, in the mountains or just further out of town? Today, H Ross and I visited the biggest city Cathedral and the Casino, which I don´t really understnad what it is, kind of like a super fancy, couple 100 year old country club.. Super pretty though, someday I´ll send pictures.. But the Cathedral is absolutely gorgeous! Kind of nice to get a chance to do some of those things, they were actually in the middle of misa (mass) when we were in there.

Um, so we´ve had a lot of Huelgas (strikes) recently, for who knows what.. There was actually a huge one last week, it almost felt like Newsies. It was like a parade in the street with tons of people marching along, so obviously the bus system was not intact and we just had to do a lot more walking in between appointments, so that eats up our time, but other than that, it wasn´t scary or anything. We just did our best to avoid the crowds.

This past week we got to see a lot of the Semana Santa which is basically shut everything down to have 4 ¨processions¨ a day, which are, again, a lot like a parade, but all of the people dress up and they carry statues of their Saints or Jesus carrying the cross, it´s really interesting, I don´t know if I really like the Spirit of it. I´ll be honest, it just feels sort of wicked. But that´s how they celebrate Easter here, for a whole week, and you know they say that Catholics just got to Mass twice a year, Easter and Christmas, welp, it´s more like, not, most of the people just hang around for the big Procession Sunday, and call it good. Anyways, those processions have been interesting, we only saw a minute of one. It kind of struck me as ironic, really religion is more of a tradition that a way of life, because 90% of the catholics we talk to in the streets are not practicing, but it when it comes time to do these big festivals and things, they are ¨religiously¨ participating and they take it SO seriously.

Other fun facts, Murcia is famous for her lemons and oranges I´ve never tasted such delicious oranges in my life as here? So you find that everything comes in lemon flavor, kinda fun. It´s pretty green, there´s little stretch we pass on the way to our capilla (church) that we call the jungle! It´s super pretty, but once again, we live in a big city, so it´s mostly just buildings and things. Oh, I¨ve gotten lots of questions about the food.. It´s different, nothing to crazy, they just have interesting combinations of food.. They love to just throw fried eggs onto things. I don´t know, I guess all the ¨ weird¨ food I´ve become accustomed to. Have to admit, H Ross and I got duped the other day, we ate brains without knowing it, and afterward when we looked up the name  in the dictionary we both wanted to vomit.. So, that´s different?

Okay, now for the real stuff, Oh man, ups an downsof missionary work, I thought I´d just share the highlights!!

I¨m most grateful that Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers.. We´ve been working with Mari and Andrea, mother and daughter from Ecuador. They have a whole family, but the brothers and father aren´t interested in the gospel, that´ll change. But anyways, Mari, was a golden find, total miracle, how H Ross encountered her, the week before I got to Murcia. But anyways, we´ve been teaching them, and Andrea has just been really lukewarm about everything, however, she listens to all of the lessons, follows her mom to church and to our english classes.. But just hásn´t really opened her heart. Well, in the last few weeks or so, she´s been faced with this super big decision, she would never tell us what it was, but she and Mari kept asking us to pray for her. So we did, and let me tell you, we´ve prayed and prayed, and we´ve just been wanting for her so bad to take this to the Lord, seek his guidance right. Well, something in there clicked, obviously she showed a little bit of faith, because she got this miracle answer, at the eleventh hour in the crossroads of this huge decision, and the night she told us about it was actually just after English class. They just so happened to be the only ones that came (thank goodness, else we woudln´t have had the chance to talk). But she finally told us what it was she was deciding between, and she told us how God had answered her prayer, and that she is pregnant!!! So, I guess that kind of gives away her big decision, but she´s really open about it, or at least now she is.. Anways, the trick now is helping her realize how she needs to act on what she´s been given, we´ve invited her to baptism, a few times now, and she´s praying now to decide whether to be baptized this month with her MOm!! Anyways, really neat.

We also, set a baptismal date with an old investigator, James, and then he didn´t show up for church or answer our calls, gotta love that. I have SO much more I want to share, seriously though, everyday, when I put my heart into this work and we do our best, we see so many miracles. Numbers of miracles, there are NO coincidences in the work of the Lord, it´s all just a matter of HIs timing. It´s been a good week, tough for me, if I¨m being honest, but good, I know that Heavenly Father loves all of His children, and he answers all of our prayers, but there really is only one way to return to Him and that is through our Savior Jesus Christ. And the only way we can accept his sacrifice is through our faith, repentance and baptism with the authority of God. These simple truths are powerful and the most important!

Love, Hermana Nelson

I Believe in Miracles!!

Family

I hope one day I can learn to manage 60 minutes of time, to write Pres Clegg, my 15 family members personally, read their emails as well, write this letter and upload pictures...Yep, we´ll write that down for a Mission Goal.

Anyways, first off, Lucia got baptized yesterday!! As of the last week, we didn´t even have a fecha (date). It was the coolest thing, Lucia is one of a few of what we call ëternigators¨or eternal investigators that we have, she´s been taking charlas (lessons) and working with missionaries and attending church every week for over a year, and within the last few weeks she´d finally been able to meet the requirements for baptism.. But then there was this gap of not having the faith to take that next step!! She was just waiting on the shores like the Brother of Jared and his family (See Ether 2, they wasted 4 years) anyways, we had this Noche de Hogar (family night) planned with her and this other family in our ward that are super close with her. And in our nightly planning, H Ross and I received the lesson from heaven, it´s not like it was spectacular, but it was exactly what she needed to hear, which was quite obvious, because we left their home witha  baptismal date for Lucia the following weekend. Lucia was baptized and confirmed  yesterday right before Conference. Now, I don´t know everything about Lucia, I haven´t been there every step of the way like the other missionaries, but I can tell you how precious it was to see her make this decision and follow through with it. It was one of the most powerful baptisms I have ever witnessed, when she came up out of the water, she just burst out in tears and embraced Neri for a good 10 or 15 seconds, it was like everything she´s been fighting and all of the pressure and weight of all of whatever just released and was gone in that moment. So tender.

I don´t really have any more time, because I´m awesome and took too long with other things, but I just wanted to kind of share that this week I´ve had a couple experiences, where I¨ve just been knocked off my socks with gratitude. I truly feel blessed, I have everything I could ever want or need in this life, I know my purpose here, I know my Heavenly Father lives, and that I can communicate with him through prayer, and I´ve got all of the tools to return to live with Him again with my family FOREVER!

I really loved Conference, I learned so much, and can´t wait to start applying some of the personal revelation I received to be a better missionary and representative of my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Love you all,

Hermana Nelson

Mi Familia Eterna

So..

I can´t really believe that a whole week has come and gone, it was fast, but it also sort of feels like forever? I have no concept of time as a missionary!

Ah man, so many miracles to share.. I´ll have to choose wisely! However, this week, I gotta say I´m most grateful for the chance to remember Whitney yesterday, of course, I knew the day was coming up, but Sunday we´re walking to our capilla (church) and I´m like, ¨Shoot Hermana, I forgot to wear pink.¨ And I¨m really embarassed to say that I didn´t have a touch of pink of my person in this moment of time. Whitney will forgive me, because I got to honor her in a better way! We got to teach the Plan of Salvation to Genny and Jose and their sweet 3 year old, Arelles. Genny is a member and has been trying to smack some faith into her husband for lots of years, they´re from Ecuador and have lived in Spain for years.. Pero, I´m thinking that this is Jose´s time. We were reading over his history in our Area book and the Hermanas had visited their family like 15 times, over a year ago, but Jose wasn´t present in most of the lessons.. And then a couple weeks ago Genny had this dream that we told her if we could have a Noche de Hogar (family night) it would change everything with JOse.. So no pressure, we went and taught last week about the atonement and how we can only become clean through Christ, and we invited them to start reading in the bom everyday as a family. Welp, we went over yesterday and guess who hadn´t read?!!! JOse!! But, we taught the Plan of Salvation, and bore testimony that families really can be together forever, and we said ¨guess what Jose, right now you´re wife is on track for the Celestial Kingdom WITHOUT you!¨Ah man, we´ll see, but he says that he will come to Gen Conference next Sunday!

 

IN Murcia, we´re heading into the rainy spring season, and we had a couple pretty chilly and wet days.. One in particular, last Tuesday night, we had about an hour and a half left in the night, it was rainy and wet and I was shivering in my boots.. Ha, but Hermana Ross and I were just having a gay old time. We were trying to get in contact with an old investigator but he wasn´t home, so we ended up toqueing the rest of the doors in the apartment building, and then we had to head back into the cold again! Ahh! It felt useless, not many people were out, and who wants to stop and talk in the rain right? But I just kept praying and praying, please just let us find one person, somebody that will listen. And H Ross turns to me at this corner, ¨K Hermana, which way should we head?¨ OH no, I didn´t know what we were supposed to do, I´m thinking, ¨Greenie here, you tell me where we should go?¨Ha but I´m like, that way? Ha, don´t worry, it was down that street in the last ten minutes of our freezing cold night where we encountered, not one, but 4 new futuros (future investigators). It was just a testimony to me, that we work, and we work till the very last minute, rain or way too hot shine, and then the Lord provides. Also, as we headed into our piso (apartment) we got this call from some lady who was frantic and asking if we could come visit here the next morning, H Ross asked her how she got our number? And she told us something about how she called Jesus and her friend had a pass along card with our number on it.. So we visited her the next day, her name is Maria,and she´s ready to drink up anything we have to tell her. We get to get teach her again tomorrow, so we´ll see!! ´

Okay, I just got to fill you in on something, as you may have heard, southern Spain is quite the melting pot, so as I jump around with investigators from Africa to Bulgaria to Ecuador, bolivia, Spain... Don´t be all to surprised. Hermana Ross and I have this little game, when we´re out visiting in different pueblos or neighborhoods ¨What country are we in now... ¨¨Hoy Estamos en Bulgaria, Estamos en Italia, o... Hoy, Estamos en Mexico or whatever.. It´s crazy. But, I gotta tell you about our Investigator, Omar. He´s from Mali, Africa, and he´s Muslim, for now at least, and we met contacted him in the street my first day here and decided to call him up last week. H Ross, hasn´t had a lot of good experiences with the Africanos, just because there´s often a language barrier, cuz they don´t speak Spanish often, and whatever. So although we had a cita (appointment) with Omar in the capilla, she wasnt really thinking he´d show up or anything.. But I was super excited, the glory of green perhaps?? Ha so we were just street contacting in the meantime, and don´t worry the time for his cita had come and passed, and I felt bummed out.. But all the sudden we find 3 missed calls and call back and it´s Omar. He just got the wrong time, so we meet up with him, because he didn´t know how to find the capilla.. And then we walked over to the church. And part of me is like, ah this is a bit dificil, he´s a guy, we´re girls, we gotta be super careful not to give the wrong idea. And that´s part of the reason we had to meet up in the capilla. But in turns out Hermana Ross and I were both eating our words in regards to Omar. He´s genuinely seeking to know if there is a God. We only had like 10 minutes before we needed to leave for our apartment. BUt we were able to kind of get to know some of his concerns, talk a bit about the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ and then at the end we taught him how to pray. And this has just really hit me this week, what a blessing in our lives to be able to talk directly with our Father in Heaven, this man has never prayed to God before or really heard much more than the name of our Savior, but he genuinely wants to learn. I just can´t describe the joy of kneeling in prayer with someone for their first time EVER. Coolest thing in the world.

There´s so so much more I wish I could say, but I gotta report to my President too! I just want you all to know that we are so incredibly blessed. We have the truth, God is our Father in Heaven and he loves us so much, he wants the best for each and every one of his children on this earth, he gives so many chances, again and again, he anxiously awaits for us to come to him. I´m so grateful that I can pray, something so simple but so powerful. I can have my own personal relationship with my Heavenly Father, I know why I´m here on this Earth and I know where I am going.

I love you guys, you´re in my prayers and I don´t doubt that you are all being taken gentle care of!

Hermana Nelson

 

Murcia!!‏

AH man Ah man

NO mucho tiempo, pero. Yaáll gotta know, I¨m in the best city in the best mission with the BEST Mission President and Mom, and the BEST Companera with the BEST barrio (ward) full of member missionaries on fire! And all I gotta say is that Murcia doesn´t know what´s hit her... I¨m in Murcia (pronounced Mor-thee-uh with the lovely Spanish theta).. I can´t even believe it, gotta meet President and HErmana Clegg on Friday and my companion, I pegged her from the first second. I´m most grateful for her, she´s just like me, 5 10´´, we have the exact same birthday, we both love basketball and running, country music, missionary work and... We are the same person. Okay, not really. But I gotta say, we do have a bit of an intimidating factor together, with our height.. Ha, two contactos en the street with these teenage girls alone, that were both quivering, all we said ¨HOla, we´re missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ, do you believe in God? And they looked like they were going to cry.. Ha it´s so hard not to giggle, because we´re the furthest thing from harmful, but we´re just both so tall and excited and... Yeah.

Entonces, Ah Hermana Ross, seriously, she´s so great, she´s encouraging, she´s patient with me, and she lets me participate, even though I havén´t got a clue of what I¨m doing right now. She´s well seasoned as a missionary, shés been out a year, she´s awesome in the language, and we´ve only had a couple lessons so far, but she´s powerful as a teacher and a representative of Jesus Christ.

Our sweet little EUropean apartment has got serious character, and it´s actually pretty big, 4 rooms. But.. Anyways, our ward is incredible. I can barely keeep all. the names straight, like I said, member missionaries, I don´t know what we would do without their help. All of our investigators right now, except for a couple, are friends or relatives of our members. It´s powerful, The members are all ready, with their sleeves rolled up! Por ejemplo, Saturday, my first day, Carmen (member) shows up to the R.S. activity with a friend she met on the street, Rafaela, (Carmen told us that she has been praying for weeks to find someone she can share the gospel with and then she meets Rafaela whose struggling with various things in her life).. Welp, Rafaela came to church and this activity and we have a meeting with her this week. Tender mercy.

I don´t have time, so I just want you guys to know that ͨm so overwhelmed with all of the things that I have to learn, but I have to much hope and excitement, because I know this is the Lórd´s work and he´s gooing to help me do it, I just gotta give him my heart and obey every little rule and commandment and it´s all going to buff out ( in the words of Brooke Maples). I know that Christ is our Savior, he´s the only way we can return to God again! WE just need faith in him. I love you guys, thanks so much for your love and support, I don´t get a single second to think about you and then I come read all of these emails and I just have chills all up and down my body because I can feel your love and I´m so grateful for that.

Have a great week for me,

HErmana NElson

P.S. TAsh, Happy 24th bday.. Haha I know it´s more, but You look 24! LOve you.

Just for those of you that send letters to Kelsey, here is her apartment address:

Calle Acsiclo Diaz 7, 2A

30005 Murcia

SPAIN

Mision Campo, Here I Come!!!

Hola and Adios....

I head for the Mission Home in MALAGA mañana en la madrugada!! (6 15 am ah!!! ) I can´t wait to meet President and Sister Clegg, I get butterflies in my tummy just thinking about it, I remember opening my call packet and seeing their sweet picture, like 6 months ago.. and now I finally get to greet them in person.. Welp, I don´t have tons of time today, cuz I used it writing personal emails.

However, I am most grateful this week for the intricate ways that Heavenly Father blesses my life, I know that when I do what´s right, he can guide me throught he Spirit.

This last week my companion was sick and so I got two full days of personal study time, but to be honest I felt like she got sick so I could have this special time to ponder and come closer to the Lord. It´s kind of crazy to think that my MTC time is over and that my ¨real¨ mission is now beginnning, because I´ve now been an MTC missionary for two and half months, that´s too long!! Ha, but I just want to relate two neat things from this week and then I gotta run becuase we´re visiting the Madrid temple for the last time in 20 minutes!! Yay.

So, I missed the big saturday in the park because Hermana Yardley was ill, but they planned an extra tracting day for Monday afternoon..  wE found out that there was actually an 8 year anniversary from the terrorist attack in the Metro, so we weren´t sure if we´d still be able to go, but the President okayed it. So, thus far with our Park experiences, it has been thee most difficult to talk to people in the Metro, because we enter with like 20 missionaries, somewhat spread out and immediately everybody is ten times more interested in their ipad, nook, book, cualquier cosas... And so we just keep setting goals, we just gotta talk to somebody!! And it´s only like a 5 minute to the park, so not tons of time.. But Monday, H Yardley and I were just so excited because we missed the last park day and we just wanted to overcome these silly fears.. So we´re like doo da doo.. And we plop down next to this 20ish young man, oh no he´s got his earphones in, how do we talk to him.. But we look over and say hi and he´s like super friendly.. Before we know, we´re talking to him about our church and missionaries and we´ve already missed our stop for the park... So we followed him out on his salida (exit) because he was in a rush to get to work, but he wanted to give us his information so we could send over missionaries, ah man, he was SO sweet, and so excited that young people have faith in God. Because he said most of the youth in Spain don´t care about God. Anyways, we also left him with a book of mormon but we didn´t get to say much becaust it was super hard to hear on the metro, I had a hard time understanding his spanish and then after he had to take off for work.. But anyways, we gained a testimony of talking to people on the metro, even though it´s hard and awkward, but awkward can´t exist when people´s eternal salvation is on the line!!!

>Next, k, we got to listen to the coolest fireside last night by Elder Bednar, it was a recording from 2009, but I am so grateful that this was the selected devotional, because I sure as heck needed to hear it. His whole talk was centered around the question ¨how can i know if it´s the Spirit or just my own thoughts¨ Well, his answer was, quit worrying and fussing and stewing and GO to work!! Press forward, the Spirit can´t work through you while  you´re sitting around. I´m so grateful for this message, I´ve got to use my own reasoning and if I¨m keeping the commandments and doing my part I can have confidence that my thoughts are in harmony with the spirit. I know that this is true, I¨ve seen it so many times and in so many tender mercies, the Lord is so involved in the great details of my life, what a blessing. So, as Elder Bednar said, just be a good boy or a good girl and go to work!

I love you guys, and can´t wait to report from my mission field next week

Hermana Nelson

Hola!! Como le va?

Hola familia

Okay, where to start? I feel like I didn´t get to send much of a real message last week, but oh my goodness!!! I´m so excited to tell you guys about some of my experiences in this international MTC! Happy Birthday this week Em, Sweet 15! You´re all growed up ha.

Ooh, I´d have to say that I am most grateful this week for the opportunity to talk about the Restoration and the Book of Mormon with Mecaela (close to Mckayla in English).. Um.. which leads me into my first report.

We got to do REAL PROSELYTING and REAL MISSIONARY WORK in the park for our very first time last Saturday.. Can you hear me? Oh my gosh, it was insane. I was shaking in my boots, so nervous and so excited. They split us up from our regular companions and I was with Hermana Williams, we both just came from the Provo MTC, entonces, none of us are fluent, or the trainer, both completely green and vulnerable. I really didn´t know what was going to happen. But our first contact took place in the Metro, her name was Selena and luckily for us, she actually was quite interested and wanted to talk, but she had to exit so we just got her phone number and left her with a pass along card.. Okay, so then they release us into this huge park comparable to Central Park in New York, and although it´s a big park, we´ve got a saturation of about 40 or 45 missionaries who are as eager as ever. So Hermana williams and I decided to veer off in a different direction.. We talked to a couple people along the way, with not much understanding (woh they speak fast here!!) and then we decided this little park with kiddies and mothers watching on benches was where we needed to be. Welp, we pointed out one sister but as we approached her, it just didnt´feel right.. So we continued on, and on, until we saw Mecaela sitting by herself, she was the last person we passed and so I´m thinking, well we came for a reason... Ha, and so I tried to break that first awkward HOla como está?  And before we knew it we were sitting next to her and I can´t even remember how it happened, but we ended up spending the rest of our full hour in the park answering her questions, and teaching her accordingly. Oh my gosh, I can´t tell you how amazing it was.She had three sweet little boys who were playing in the park, and so from time to time, usually during one of those ideal testifying moments.. she´d have to look over and make sure they were still alive.. But I´m here to tell you, this lady is thirsting for more in here life, she´s emigrated from Romania ten years ago, her husband currently lives and works in france because he can´t find any work here and we could sense that they´re struggling financially, not completely impoverished. But she was just pure and as we looked into her eyes and told her that Father in Heaven loves her and wants to be able to communicate with her right now, I just could see her drinking it up. I love her, I couldn´t stop thinking about her and praying for her for days, and I probably will never see her again, it was one of those referrals when we had to hand it over to our maestros at the end of the day, we were like, ¨please make sure the missionaries visit her and bring her the book of mormon in romanian, so she can understand it completely¨ she was hesitant to accept a BOM in espanol because it´s not her native tongue but as we showed her a few passages, it was clear she could get the gist out of the verses. Anyways, she´s so great, she tried to explain to us how she the Spirit speaks to her, ¨I get warm inside and little chills all up and down from my toes to my head¨ we´re like, that´s so great, and we taught about the restauration and Jose Smith and how she can read the book of mormon and know for herself if it´s true and he was a prophet, and I think she was a little bit confused, ¨how can I pray about jose smith if I don´t know him¨? My favorite part was when we were talking about how joseph smith had a question, he wanted to know what church was true.. and so he prayed, and she´s like, ¨¨ I´ve been wondering the same thing for myself¨¨ I just felt like everything we taught her, she already had thought about or was so receptive to. Anyways, the park went so well for all of us that they planned 3 extra visits during our stay here! So I´ve already been back another time, but I don´t have time to elaborate on those experiences.

Today, we´re heading into the city, we´re going to see the Madrid soccer stadium and the Plaza Mayor and other awesome sites in town. But I just want to take the last couple minutes and describe how amazing this internationa MTC experience is. I didn´t realize because I thought we would only have us american missionaries, Spain bound. But we´ve had Itallians, russians, ARgentinans, just got some French and Chilean missionaries.. It´s so great. We constantly have translators and several languages being spoken in every meeting, I have loved getting to know, especially the russians and chileans because it reminds me of Hermana Bosco and Elder Harris.. I know that they´re loving the people of Ukraine and Argentina, if they´re anything like the ones I have met. It´s just incredible, I love this Gospel, it can unite all of us through all of our differences. I´m so grateful for our Spanish teachers, they ooze with love and they are so excited that we can be a light unto their nation. I love my life,

Hermana Nelson

Hola de Madrid!!‏

Hola mi familia en la tierra de Sión!! No puedo decir que extrano la ciudad de Provo ahora por qué Estoy en lo mas mejor parte del mundo, MADRID!

Volveré a Inglés... Ah man, this place is beautiful we can see the temple, just outside our window. The CCM is solo tres floors of this building, the others floors are for the hostels that members can stay in when they come to visit the madrid temple. We arrived in madrid this morning at 9am, it is now 3 en el tarde and I am suffering from jet to the lag!!! I didn´t catch a wink of sleep on our flight from Atlanta to madrid because I got to sit by the Spain Consul on the plane and he was talking to me the last 6 hours.. I learned a lot of really cool things about the spanish government, how the church assigns mission calls (he gets to sit in on some of those meetings), muchas oltras cosas tambien. He´s the man who delivered our visas to us last Friday in the CCM. Entonces, the CCM here is increíble. Our maestros/teachers are all from diferente partes de España and have thee coolest accents, theta and all and they just glow with love! I´m so excited to be here, I´ve been assigned to a new companion, whom i knew from the Provo MTC, Hermana Petru. Really looking forward to being with her, and I´ve also moved up into the advanced language district, I thought I could use the challenge. I didn´t know this, but back in the Provo MTC, they had intermediate and advanced language districts for people who had previous spanish knowledge. Entonces, now I get to study with them and we ONLY hablar en Español durante clase tiempo, estará un gran bendicion para mi! We will be in the MTC here until March 16 it looks like, so a little bit more! I am so happy and so zomby tired. But, no mas preopucaciones sobre su misionera favorita! We also just got a new MTC President today, he flew over with us! super excited to be here, even though we haven´t even seen much of spain yet. like I said the temple is fantastically gorgeous and we will get to go there a time or two, the Consul Bambo (no sé su nombre exactamente... pero,) told me during our plane ride that President Hinckley said, that he of course has been in ALL of the temples in the world and the celestial room in the Madrid temple is the best decorated ever. I´m excited, Consul Bambo said it´s very different and very beautiful. So, believe it or not, I´m in Spain and I´m liking the looks of things thus far, especially our 7pm bedtime este noche! Can´t wait for a long and much needed rest, love you all!

oh mom, I must say, that from the drive to the airport to our MTC campus, I was reminded of Zagreb, Croatia, a few high rises, nothing too picturesque just yet, but it was only like a 7 minute drive..

Les Amo Muchisimo!!!

Hermana Nelson

 

Woh.. I don't even know what week it is ?

Hola!

This week has been so crazy, I feel like I've ridden the emotional roller coaster 4 times. First off, exciting news! Today we have a meeting with the Spanish Consul.... What ever that means? Ha, but all of our friends in the MTC that are heading to Spain have been invited (even some of the missionaries that just got here last week, super jealous) so we'll at least be hearing SOMEthing about our visas, whose to say when they'll come but we have high hopes! We only have one full week left, the Elders in our District leave one week from next Monday for Nicarauga, so we're pretty excited for that. Anyways, so if we don't get visas next week then I'm pretty sure they just go off and re-assign us to wherever we need to be! I'll be writing letters after our meeting so if I find out any good news, you'll know soon.

Okay, this week I just gotta say how grateful I am for the Atonement, it's real, I use it everyday as a missionary. Um.. Where do I begin? I just feel like I have had so many highs and lows, I found this scripture in Ether 6 this morning that can help me put the way I feel into words.. these are parts of verse 6 and 7 talking about when the brother of Jared and his people had to travel across the sea in their barges, anyways, "And it came to pass that they were many times buried in the depths of the sea.." " and therefore they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the TOP OF THE WATERS." Whatever it may be, each day this week I feel like I've been "buried" in my lack of faith or in my hardened heart, but I can say that every time this happens, the Lord lifts me back up. He knows my threshold, and he doesn't allow me to suffer past it, but at the same time it feels like a stretch!

This week we, as a District, had to pull together and say goodbye to one of our family members, hardest thing ever, Elder Benson left two days ago, to go take some time at home and further prepare to represent our Savior.  My heart has been so heavy, but as I've turned to the Lord, well, it's been better. Um, that's really put a damper on our week. I want so much to be positive, however in all honesty, it's been one of the toughest things! I am so grateful for his courage, for his example and his pure desire to come closer to Christ. IN fact, that is our sole purpose as missionaries, invite others to Christ. So it's exciting to see this happening in real life!

So, my computer hates me and has frozen after every three words.. So this letter is going to have to be a lot shorter than the rest. I decided to come back now and finish after the temple, because the first computer lab had the worst connection. Anyways, so we just returned from the temple. Wow, I feel SO much better, what a blessing to have a place where I can go and feel peace. Me and my companions are always in the best of spirits after our temple visits, I don't know what I'm going to do out in the field without our weekly temple trip!!

Just one more thought from our Devotional this week.. I'm terrible, but I don't remember their names or want to take time to try and remember. But we were visited by a general authority from the seventy and his wife spoke first. referring to John 15 I think about how the Savior will come to us as we serve, I am so thankful for this time to focus on my relationship with Him and to be able to feel His love every day. It's when I lose sight of this that I get overwhelmed or nervous or feel inadequate. I know that the Lord sustains me through my trials, I know the Savior is real and He I know he loves me.

 I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4:6).

Thank you for the packages, the words of love and support and encouragement, I love you guys!

Hermana Nelson

Semana Ocho??? Enserio?‏

Hola!

Wow, what a week. Seriously i know I won't have time to share all that I want to, I wish I could just pour my heart into an email and then I wouldn't have to explain everything.. it's not the same.

But I'll try. First off, congratulations Aubrey and Jordan, i got chills when I heard about their engagement. SO exciting and Congratulations tambien to the new Adriatic North Mission, Cammie, BOSNIA is open!! That's so cool. Also, muchas gracias por todo Valentino packages and letters. I was showered with love, I would have to say, one of my very favorite Valentine's Day. Thank you thank you.

This week I'm most grateful for so many things. I'll just choose one, The Book of Mormon, it's true, I love it, we hold in our hands the word of God. The promise of Joseph Smith is true from the intro, "A man will become closer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book." Es la verdad (this is the truth)! We can turn to this book for comfort, for answers and to learn about Jesus Christ. President Monson encouraged us in his last Devo at BYU to find out for ourselves, everyday, that this book is true. I'd say the best way to do that is to start by opening it, drinking from it's pages and as with anything else,  ask God if it's true and I know that we WILL receive an answer. Sometimes I think that seems silly, I already know it's true, why am I asking a question that I know the answer to? Ha but I do know when I humbly ask I can the Spirit testify to my soul. I"m grateful for that.

This week we got to meet and teach a family that has been called to be mission presidents in the states somewhere, speaking English.. They haven't gotten their specific assignment yet, but they chose our district for some reason to work with them. So we broke up in our companionships to teach each member of their family, including the mission president and his wife. WE hermanas got to work with the mission president's wife. WE found out like 10 minutes before, so we're just scrambling to come up with an idea of where we want to head with our lesson. lucky, it was in english, but surprisingly teaching in english felt WEIRD! Ha, but my favorite part was when she taught us. She said something that inspired me, "When I pray I like to picture God in the same room as me, just like another conversation. i talk and he listens, he answers and I listen." As i've tried to remember this throughout the week, it's changed the way I pray. I love it. The next night, we had another awesome devotional from Elder Clark of the 70 and he once again talked about how we need to listen after we pray and pray for specific things, beyond "guidance" or "help" I loved this, this week we were preparing for one of our investigators, tony and he just doesn't really have much desire. I'm not really sure why he even spends time with us because he seems to just want to nap while we teach.. so we've been kind of worried about him. So one day in personal study, I asked the Lord to show me what we coudl teach him, what could help him realize the importance of the Gospel in his life, because he tells us that he doesn't have any problems. Ha so after I prayed, I listened, just for a bit, tried to clear my mind and figure out what the Spirit was saying. THe first thing that came into mind I thought, ah really? Alma 32? I"m just thinking of that because it's one of my favorite chapters.. and we've used it recently.. But then I realized, wait, I just asked the Lord for guidance and I won't even listen to his suggestion? Ha, so I turned there and read through and with the perspective of Tony's needs, it was like this was a totally different chapter than I've read 20 times before. It was amazing, I gained a testimony that we can receive revelation through our missionary mantle and that as we learn to follow the spirit and discern between good ideas and the spirit's ideas, we'll be so much better.

Elder Clark also said, "you can be guided if you choose." Why wouldn't I? Elder Clark also talked to us about obedience and how we can decide today that we will not let anybody else determine our mission, in regards to obedience. He promised that as we are obedient, even when nobody else is, we will feel the arms of the Savior around us. I love that.

Just an update, Stefani (our 16 year old) is doing so so well, we invited her to YW, Church and to be baptized. And she's doing so much better with her commitments, she needs to pray about baptism and get permission from her father first, but I've got hope for her! We also met our newest investigator, David (never thought I"d say my brother's name with a Spanish accent, it's different ha). and he's awesome, we did so well in our first lesson. We came in, introduced a bit of the restoration and the book of mormon, invited him to be baptized as he receives an answer that this is the church of Christ and he said, "Hey, if I receive an answer, why wouldn't I be baptized?" I know we're working with "fake investigators" but it feels real, and I really do learn so much from teaching them.

Also, kinda exciting, this week we have a news crew from the middle east who are doing a report on MOrmon Missionaries, we've been reminded of our goal of "quiet dignity" throughout the campus ha, but seriously, this could help several countries open up to missionary work in the that stubborn ol' Middle East! What a great time to be a missionary. I'm so grateful for all of the ways I'm blessed, every single day. My love for the Lord has deepened as I serve him, I"m so grateful for the gospel in my life. I love youall.

Hermana NElson

Semana Seis!!!‏

Hola Familia-

Woh, deep breath.. I love P-days because, no matter what went down during the week and how hard it seemed, I can look back at the week with a bit more perspective and a deep breath and just feel happy. It seems silly because I'm in the MTC, I thought it was just going to be a blissful and spiritual dream, but it's actually a lot more sweat and labor that I envisioned. Pero, todo bien (it's all good).

Esta semana estoy lo mas agradecida for Nora, Nila and Koni.. I feel like, way too many times in my life I have taken them for granted but as my Mom reminded me in her sweet letter this week, "We are living among angels." I'm so grateful that I get to see them here in the MTC, quite regularly and catch them with boyfriends and dessert in hand (Haha Mom, didn't wanna rat them out, but Nora is head over heels for this Steve guy, I keep encouraging her to tell you about it but she's being shy). Anyways, I am so grateful for their spiritual sensitivity and their forgiving and loving nature. They are truly a blessing in my life and an amazing example to all of us!

Tambien, I wanted to wish everyone and early Valentine's Day, aww, the day of LOVE! I'm sure here in the MTC we'll be learning about love on this day, as with every other, but the perfect kind of love. The love our Father in Heaven and Savior have for each of us. It's my prayer, each day that you can all feel this love, I know I can. 

This week, as a District we suffered through one of our first hardships, we likened it unto a "Mock Field Transfer" experience, because on Tuesday, the beloved Hermano Perez (our teacher) announced that this would be his last day as out teacher in the MTC, he feels like it is his time to move.. And we figured since we've been here six weeks and most transfers are 6 weeks long, this could be an opportunity to know what it might maybe feel like when we have to say goodbye to our Investigators and other people we love. Because more than just Hermano Perez, he played the role of our first ever Investigador, Manuel and more recently las hermanas and I were teaching him as Mario. Unfortunately, Hermano Perez broke this news to us before we Hermanas had to teach him. Lets just say, it was a bit of an emotional lesson.. Hermana Maxwell and I couldn't even make it through the opening prayer, offered by Mario (Hermano Perez0, of our lesson without losing it. I don't know what my problem was, we've been so excited for Mario because he's been our strongest Investigador and ever since we brought him to church with us he's just been like a sponge, soaking everything up. In the beginning of our lesson we invited him to be baptized, and even set a date with him. But of course, we won't be seeing Mario again. Ugh!!! Ha, but Hermano Perez came with us to the temple this morning to do an Endowment Session. I'm so so grateful for our teachers here in the MTC, I know I talk about them all the time, but essentially they are like our missionaries, their purpose is to invite us to Christ and teach us how we can do the same for our Investigators. But they truly care so much about us, I can feel it. 

Also, no visa yet, but it really isn't important to me. We have some Elders in our zone that are supposed to head to Mexico but have been held back in lack of visas also, and they just got reassigned to Mesa and Boise until their visas come. I wouldn't be at all surprised if I got to send a month or so in the Utah, Provo Mission. I promise NOT to tract our neighborhood though, if that happens:)

This week, I've been super grateful for my scripture study and prayer. Sometimes I forget, that I just need to ask, I remember that's something that Jonny Nabrotzky taught me this summer, it never hurts to ask. In the Bible Dictionary under Prayer it talks about how some blessings are simply contingent upon our asking for them. When we pray with sincerity and real intent (actually planning to act on the answers and direction we receive) Heavenly Father is so excited and ready to help us. Por ejemplo, with another INvesitigator, Stefani, she's 16 years old and we've just had the hardest time connecting with her. It feels like most our lessons just go over her head and she's sort of half in with commitments, "Yeah I prayed, but I fell asleep during my prayers..." or, "I read some of the chapter.." Kind of attitude, right before our last lesson when we were praying we asked heavenly father for charity for stefani, because it's just been to easy to frustrated or not understanding of her attitude. And I'm here to tell you, it made all the difference in the world, we had one of our best lesssons, we actually felt comfortable conversing with her before and after the lesson and I really did feel like I cared about her. so grateful..

My other experience is a bit too personal to share, but I've been wanting and expecting a certain blessing for a while.. It never occurred to me that I should ask for it. Ha, and during my evening prayer last night I thought, "Why not." And so I did.. and immediately I received this exact feeling I needed. Sorry, super vague, but I know that Heavenly Father hears my prayers.. It's up to me, I'm the one holding us back in our relationship. When I come before Him with a humble heart and a sincere desire to do whatever he asks, He blesses me.

I"m so sorry, I'm running out of time again. But I hear ya'all want the low down on my companeras!! They're awesome. Hermana Maxwell is from Glenndale, Utah, really really small town and her family has lived there for generations. She's so chill though, not at all what i stereotype small town people to be. She is the definition of humility and she's super thoughtful and mild in temper, she reminds me a lot of Carli Chambers (Travis's sister-in-law). We have so much fun in basketball at gym time because she's totally a baller, she's got a great sense of humore. Love here, Tambien Hermana Roderick, she's from Pleasant Grove. She's passionate, she's hilarious, just hard core real, she says what she means and she means what she says, and she is one of the most self-motivated people i know.

I gotta go thought, 100% obedience eh? Love you all!

Hermana Nelson

MTC Week 5

Hola Familia!

I can't believe it, but we're going on week 5 en la CCM, it's some ways it's gone by SO but in others, it for sure feels like a month OR MORE! My Mom asked me to clear up my Visa situation, I currently don't have one.. As soon as I get a visa clearance for Spain then they purchase plane tickets within a few days. That's all I know!  Wow, this week, I am most grateful for the love of my Heavenly Father. Without it, I wouldn't be able to make it, and with it I feel like I can do anything, or at least all that is required of me. I've got a couple experiences to illustrate my point, first off. Just wanna let you know some fun things.

So while i was leaving my Temple Session this morning I ran into 3 beautiful ladies from the Grandview 6th Ward, Hermana Bosco, Hermana Salmon and Hermana Lori Nelson.. What a treat, I told them not to let out my temple session time because well I don't want to purposely run into my family, ha but it was SO good to see some familiar faces. And then, there's more, we went down to the Temple Cafeteria for breakfast and I'm standing in line next to this Brother who works in the temple and he was asking me where I'm going on my mission and so i was like, yeah Spain, then I asked him how long he had worked in the temple and he said since 1998 but he took a break 3 years ago for a MIssion. So I asked him where he served.. Wait for it, SYRRIA, DAMASCUS. Okay, maybe only Jonny and Michelle Nabrotzky and Aunt Karyn and Uncle JIm will appreciate this. But Syrria is a neighboring country to Lebanon and there is currently only one active member of the church in Syrria, the Assouad brothers, Karim and Nabil would occasionally take the Sacrament to her on weekends when it was safe enough to venture across the tight border control.  I asked this Brother Morgan (temple worker) if he by chance knew this lady, I forget her name, but he's like, "Yes, I know her, I had the opportunity to baptize her." So what are the odds right? That I bump into this guy at this exact minute on this temple morning.. So, he asked me if he could come sit by us during our breakfast and so he ate with me and my companions and told us of many more miracles he saw in Syrria and how during this lady's confirmation blessing that he offered he blessed that her country and other neighboring countries would be open to the LDS church and it was just super cool. Brother Morgan of course knows the Assouads and many other members in Lebanon. I consider this a sweet little tender mercy from my Heavenly Father, this week I was thinking a lot about Lebanon and some of the experiences I had there and then I get to end my week this way.

Also, I met this Elder that's one of the Atwoods' neighbors in Vegas, Elder Tippetts is his name. he says he had sushi with Curtis just a couple days before he left for the MTC, kinda fun. 2 more dork moments of this week, one relating to this Elder Tippetts. Mi companera, H. Maxwell, and I were playing basketball with these Elders and I got my face slammed when one of them were coming down with a rebound and i was bleeding in my mouth... MY first concern was, "do I still have all my teeth?" LUckily, I did and I still do, but I was left with a beautiful fat lip! The Elders felt SOOO bad.. I gave em a hard time for it, don't worry. When I showed up for class the Elders in my District, particularly Elder Lolohea (tongan) were concerned about my face and what the heck happened to me. elder Lolohea, "Who hit you?!! What's his name?!" Instantly, he really wanted to get some revenge. i was like, Elders, really it's not a big deal. Ha, but I have pictures.. It really wasn't that bad, just kind of hard to smile and talk/eat for a few hours.. Second dork moment, I vowed before my MIssion that I would not make this Spanish mistake, anybody remember? Robbie? You should. Ha, fish and sin are very similar in the Spanish and it would seem that it's some sort of rite of passage to mix them up. Of course, I did! Our teacher was telling us about how he was going to make fish tacos for his dinner group that night and he was a bit nervous.. So as he was leaving I was like, "Bueno suerte con sus tacos de pecados Hermano Barton!!" " Good luck with your sin tacos!" Phew, glad I've got that over with.

Moving on, to the real stuff, okay I was so so blessed this week. As of last Tuesday the MTC has been up and running for 50 years and so we got to celebrate this awesome anniversary with Elder Holland and Elder Nelson and many previous MTC Presidencies and so forth during our Tuesday night Devotional. We heard rumors of the First Presidency showing up so half of us skipped dinner to go wait in line for awesome seating. Ha, we were jam packed in line, it was terrible because by the time we got to sit down and prepare for this spiritual feast, we were already exhausted. Ha, but wow what a miracle to sit at the feet of an apostle as Elder Nelson offered a Dedicatory prayer for some of the new building on the MTC campus, I don't remember the last time I got to hear an apostle pray, it was incredible. Elder Holland and Elder Nelson both spoke and bore powerful testimony of missionary work of course. I loved what Elder Holland emphasized, "YOu are OBLIGATED, I can't think of a better word, OBLIGATED to do your best. To pray the way you should pray, act the way you should act, be the kind of missionaries that Church thinks you are."  You all know the power and spirit that accompanies jeffrey r. holland's conviction and it was amazing. Elder Nelson also talked about how the Book of Mormon is thee most powerful converting tool and she shared an experience I recalled from Conference when he gave a BOM to this couple during some war he served as a surgeon in. They returned the book the next week, kind of flippantly, and thanked him for the gesture. And Elder nelson's like, 'What do you mean thank you?! You obviously didn't read it, did you?" Ha and so he encouraged the couple to read it again, prayerfully and of course they got baptized. And now they can attribute 309 other people as members of the Church because of their conversion. Super cool.

Anyways, we're so lucky to be here in the MTC, every day, if I apply myself and do my best, I am showered with the Spirit and the love of God.

We had one of the most powerful lessons yesterday, we were teaching our teacher, Brother Barton, as himself, instead of him pretending to be an investigator like they usually do. We didn't have more than 15 minutes to prepare becuase we found out right before, but we came together as a companionship to pray to be able to discern his needs and all reached the conclusion and found different scriptures all relating to the same point, "you can do it, endure to the end." Haha and so we were able to visit with him, sort of ask some more thought provoking and personal questions and then we began with a prayer. The spirit was so strong during this lesson, there was one point where I felt the need to bear my testimony but I didn't know what for or what I wanted to say in English... Let alone SPANISH. Ha but I cleared my throat and took over the silence and I honestly can't recall what I said, but I was overcome with this powerful feeling of my Heavenly Father's love for me and for Brother Barton. Nothing like it, I feel like I work so hard all week and sometimes it doesn't feel like it pays off, sometimes I'm literally just memorizing vocabulary or conducting weak conversations in Spanish with my District/whoever or sometimes I'm really just studying for what feels like forever.. But we get to a lesson and everything falls into place, and as we try to follow the Spirit and trust in God, it all works out. After our lesson Hermano Barton really helped me learn a powerful lesson. He was like, "how do you feel right now? How do you feel in there?" And i really thought back on how everything flowed and worked in our companionship and things and he was like, "Hermana Nelson, I'll be honest, I can't remember a word you sisters said in there, but I will never forget the way I felt when you bore your testimony." So what I learned from this is the power of letting myself be vulnerable, that is the point where the Spirit steps in and it becomes the Lord's lesson and not my own. I am so grateful for this experience and the boost to be better and to know that there is hope. Heavenly Father is aware of my needs and my efforts and desires to serve Him.

However, I still have many selfish motives and am working to purify myself and my heart so that my love for Christ motivates each of my actions. It's a work in progress, of course. But I feel so happy here, it's hard, long, and at times a bit too routine-istic, but this is a powerful place and I Know that everything I learn here will help me in the field. Thank you everyone for your support and your prayers, I am so grateful for this time in my life and for the support I have from family and friends.

Love,

 Hermana Nelson

La Semana de mi VIDA!!!

Hola!! Como Estan!

I just have to say, I'm overflowing with joy and just so so grateful this week. I'll tell you why:) The Lord has answered my prayers, I've been super blessed. This week I am most grateful for my companions, last week I didn't think I would ever be able to say that! Ha, okay, most grateful for my companions and my District, this is mi familia de la CCM. I really do have love for each and every one of these Elders and Sisters. Okay, so let me expound a bit. We had a few kinks in our companionship, mostly personality clashes and so we kind of had more of a heated discussion one night in place of a proper companionship inventory, I mean, heated in the MTC.. Not what I would call heated at home, there wasn't any yelling or name calling or anything, it was just sort of opening up about some frustrations. And it was important, you really can't bottle up those kind of emotions and teach as a team with the Spirit. We learned that on Saturday.. However, Sunday morning sitting in Branch Council, the theme of the meeting felt rang "Companionship Inventory, comp inventory, comp inventory, regular and thorough" President Hansen promised that if we could master this it would bless us throughout eternity because 50% of marriages are failing today.. Sad stat, sorry. But this really impressed me, I mean we had held a couple comp inventories, but we needed another one! So that same day, right before Sacrament we came together, in the hall, awkward our Elders kept interrupting. And we came to realize that there were a few more unresolved issues and as we prayed and talked through them and received a better understanding of one another we grew and I felt so much joy. This stuff isn't easy but So important. Awww, and then we had the glorious opportunity to go and partake to the Sacrament, and I just felt like, "Yes! A fresh start!!" I felt so clean and so ready to try again, Yay for the Sacrament and the opportunity to renew our desires and be clean of our shortcomings and sin.

Thee other hugest way the Lord has answered my prayers.. Just yesterday, oh my word! Okay, so I've mentioned before the difficulty of speaking Spanish in our District because some missionaries don't see the importance of it or we just forget you know? Ha, you would think I was schizophrenic or something becuase I'd be constantly muttering Spanish under my breath, translating what someone just said in Ingles or what I would say back in Spanish if anybody would listen to me!! Ha, I've just been so stressed and praying so hard to learn how I can improve my Spanish, because I felt like I was doing everything I knew how. And then, our ever so inspired teacher comes in last night for class and was like, "Elders and Sisters, how's the HSI (Speak your Language) coming?" Because he had already given us the pep talk about how this is the only way to learn Spanish and leave the MTC as prepared as possible... Ha, well it was clear that we needed work. So we had this discussion as a class, "What are you willing to sacrifice for the Lord." He likened this situation unto Ammon when he first crossed Lamoni's father and had him at knife point and lamoni's father's like, "Ah! I'll give you half of my kingdom if you don't kill me!" And then later when Ammon teaches him about the Gospel, "[Ammon I'll give you my entire kingdom if you teach me how to be saved]" And finally as it really settles in, "I will give away all my sins to know God," says Lamoni's father. Brother Perez was like, what are you guys going to give? As you come to understand the importance of this sacrifice that the Lord has asked of you, what can you give up? Social time, pride, fear, inconvenience, selfishnes.. These were some of the things we came up with. And in my head, the whole lesson my heart was just swelling because I was thanking the Lord, this is exactly what I need, I want teammates to learn Spanish with, and I needed a strengthened resolution to speak Spanish TODA DIA CADA DIA (All day, everyday). Ha so our District has all commmitted to HSI all the time and I am the most grateful person I know right now.

Just thought I'd say, we had our first TRC experience, we meet Saturday mornings at 8:30, cuz Mom I know you said the Kapendas wanted to come (that makes me super nervous ha but esta bien!). And we actually ended up teaching our instructor, HErmana Larson because there weren't enough volunteers and afterward we taught some amazing Peruvians, who are the fruits of missionary work themselves.. Well, truthfully we all are. Anyways, we so loved this experience, it was a lot of unplanned and follow the Spirit kind of instruction, it was actually really neat teaching Hermana Larson because we got the chance to really ask her some deeper questions and feel more of her Spirit, see a side we don't always get to in class. We also had some incredible lessons this week with our investigators, mario and Stephanie. We've been really trying to focus on teaching people and not lessons and especially after we decided to come together as a companionship, you could tell such a difference in our lessons, we brought the Spirit with us, followed it and felt so much more of a connection with our Investigators. Ha, but it's not all perfect, even just yesterday we kind of flopped with Stephanie, mostly because we had to teach her in the hallway and we couldn't hear each other a lot of the time because people were in and out, ha but it was still sort of a tough lesson. i guess that's a good situation to practice, because in street contacting, which we'll do a lot of in Spain, the world doesn't just stop around you.

Two more things I wanna share and then my time will be up! Ha, so i have come to learn in the MTC that I'm actually working to be fluent in 2 languages, other than Spanish, we're working to learn the language of the Spirit, which is a lot more important. Ha, but there was just this one day in class we were talking about how prayer is our communication with God and our teacher sort of opened up a discussion about why we think prayer is important. I had a thought, sort of something I learned from Elder Chambers one time when he wrote to me that was eye opening for me.. Ha but I didn't really say anything at first, cuz I wanted to let other people talk. Ha but then I just got one of those slightly heart wrenching moments where you know you should bear your testimony.. Ha, so I decided to share my this little comment and right after one of the Elders in our district was like, "OH my gosh! Hermana Nelson, I've never thought of that before, wow, I'm oh my gosh, speechless.. " He was just going on and on and I just thought, hmm I guess he really  needed to hear that, so the point isn't to say, "I'm eloquent." but there is power in following the Spirit, even when we're not sure if what we're thinking is a prompting or just a nice thought. Cool learning experience for me.

Lastly, just wanted to close with a cool promise in one of our past Devotionals that I've forgotten to mention, Elder Stephen B. Allen came and towards the very end of his talk he said that we each have angels assigned to guard and protect us as the Lord's missionaries and that many of our guardian angels have recently passed through the veil and our going to be with us.. What a sweet tender mercy, I guess I sort of felt like, "Well, I hope Whitney can be close to me, if she's not TOO busy." But as he was speaking I realized, duh, of course Whitney would want to be looking out for me and I won't go into detail because I don't want anybody to think I'm crazy but I really can feel her at certain times, which I didn't have back at home. I am so grateful, I know with all of my heart that the Plan of Salvation is real, I can't get through a lesson with our investigators without being moved to emotion, this means everything to me. Families are forever, if we can each do our part. This is all made possible through the Savior and his sacrifice and only through faith in his Atonement can we return and live with God again. The Gospel is true, and such great news! I love each of you.

Hermana Nelson

Week 3 in the Provo MTC

Oh man oh man---

 Just another week in the CCM. Okay, it's never just another week, we learn and we grow and we study SO much! I love it here though, really feel like I'm settled, I mean, not in the language, but the routine, we got her down!

This week I am MOST grateful for our inspired Devotional on Tuesday night. We got to hear from Elder Duncan who recently returned as a Mission Pres in Chile. He and his wife spoke and gave such great advice. So so much I needed to hear, He talked about how the measure of our commitment is how hard we work when we are faced with diversity and our diligence is our expression of love for Heavenly Father. I loved this, he told us that our time as missionaries is short, but our impact is eternal! He also said that our joy equals the level of love we have for others... Which segues nicely into the advice he offered concerning our companions. This is what I really needed to hear, because I was struggling this week in this area, and you know, truthfully it's been one of the more difficult aspects of my Mission so far. I just feel sort of impressed to share his advice, really I think it can apply to everybody in all of our different kind of relationships. HE said to be the kind of companion that you would want to have, and that our joy comes as we edify and build each other. STrengthen and support him or her.. With this guidance I've found so much more joy in my relationships with my companions, it's not all about me. Ha, I think of what Uncle Kevin told me the day of my farewell, "Remember to give your comps credit, it means a lot to people." So when we step outside a lesson with our investigators, I really try to help them see how they contributed and brought the spirit in, it often feels like we're hard on ourselves, but it's okay we're so new and have to much to learn!

I also feel super lucky, we got 3 new Hermanas in our room, so we're now packed in tight like chalk! 6 sisters in one room, ha but they've really added a positive element. They're so ready to learn and try so hard to be obedient and on time and I just love them so much, it feels so good to be able to turn around and help someone with something you just experienced.. THere were a lot of sniffles the first night and i just thought about how my first few days were tough, adjusting to this new life! Ha, but I love these girls already. Also, I just wanted to mention, k so one of my best friends growing up, Ashlyanna Ogden, her grandparents are in our Branch presidency.. We made that connection last week, but it just cracks me up because Ashly used to always talk about her crazy Grandma and now I finally get to meet this woman. Ha, we even had a sleepover at her house before, swam in her pool, partied in her basement. Ha, but she is the best and she comes to visit us during the week. she's like 80 but she acts like she's 18. We LOVE Sister mErrill!!

I also love my Classroom teachers, they help us so much. They keep encouraging us to improve our HSI (SYL=Speak your Language), speak Spanish all the time!!! Ha, and it's been really hard, because i feel like our District is really attached to their English.. or they just don't think to use spanish, whichever, but Brother Perez promises that he's seen Districts essentially fluent and ready to teach by the Spirit at the end of their MTC training. This gives me hope, he said we choose to struggle here or we can choose to struggle in the field, cualquier (whichever). I choose now, even though my comps think I'm an idiot when I speak and look at me like I"m stupid and then I end up translating back to English..

Something I've been thinking a lot about the last few days are the sacrifices of missionaries, I've met so many people from all over the world and I love to learn their stories.. I"ve noticed that if you're willing to listen, people are willing to share a lot more than you'd imagine. Ha, this one elder is from Fiji and he played on a professional Rugby team but forfeited his spot to serve the Lord. He was the first convert in his family, and his parents have since joined.. So cool and I met another elder  who was offered a $2 million recording contract 3 days before he entered the MTC, he found out his grandma has a terminal illness and his uncle died the day before he left.. I don't know, it just sort of amazes me, helps me to think outside of myself. I'm not the only one whose going without for 18 months.

Just wanted to sum my thoughts, cuz I"m out of time. But HErmana Larson, our teacher asked us what the Lord has blessed us with as we've served thus far and as I've sort of contemplated I decided that overall I've just been overwhelmed with His love. It's amazing what love can do, I really feel like I can do anything when I remember this. I really have been so blessed with peace and a desire to learn and work hard, it's really been so humbling. But I know when I work my hardest and can tell my Heavenly Father in my nightly prayer, "Look, I did my best today," there's not really a better feeling.

 I love you all so much, thank you for all of the packages and mail... They've really just been RAINING down. I love it.

Love,

Hermana Nelson