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