Sweet Week

Another beautiful fall sunrise in Chile.
Elder Tondevold's Sister-in-law "to be" doing study abroad. She visited our branch.
Good-bye! Elder Gulbrandson

Hey everyone how are things going?

First of all, Happy Big 50 DAD! wow you are getting old. "te estaí poniendo viejo" as they would say here.

also, happy 4th of July!!!! Let freedom ring!

This week was a really great week for us. It went by really fast and was absolutely full of events. On Wednesday, I went on interchanges with Elder Owen. It was really fun to go with him. We go home together. It was cloudy in the morning but later on in the day it started to rain and by the night time it was pouring. luckily i grabbed my emergency umbrella but still by the end of the day, i was absolutely soaked. to get home we had to walk through the center of Quilpué which was just pure rivers instead of streets. there are no draining systems here. my shoes are still wet from it. luckily i have another pair to use.
On Thursday, we had a mission conference of the Interior. It was a really good conference and focused on the importance of establishing trust with our ward where we are serving.

During the conference, President talked about the World Cup and said that he realizes that we are humans and that this is a special moment in sports history and the whole country stops when the team is playing so he gave us permission to watch the game on Friday against Spain. We watched it with our ward mission leader and the family that we are working with in the branch. They live across the street from them. We lost 1-2 but it was cool to be able to watch the game. Chile classified for the next round but have to face Brazil.

Later that night, we had a lesson with the whole Gonzalez Vega Family and were finally able to teach Juan, the dad. We went over the message of the Restoration and invited the family to get baptized. The dad without hesitation said yes and turned to his wife and asked, "and you?" It was so special to see them have the desire to better the relationship and love in their family. The daughters also accepted. They have a baptismal date for the 24 of July!!!!! woo hoo!!!!!! It was such a special lesson and I was even choked up after sharing the first vision. We invited them to go to a baptism in another ward in Quilpué to see how it was on

Saturday. They went with our ward mission leader and loved it.

On Saturday, we had the privilege of going to the Temple in Santiago. It was such an amazing experience and was so much more meaningful for me after teaching gospel principles for the past year and a half. Hopefully that is the longest time I go without going to the Temple in my life. It is something so necessary.
On Sunday, something unique happened. We arrived at church early in the morning and after getting everything all ready for the meetings, the power went out, including the heating. Right before the meeting i was asked along with my companion to speak. My companion went first and I went second. I decided to share my conversion story and why I was here in the mission. Why, I have no idea, but right from the get-go I was emotional. I talked about the importance and great power of the examples that i have had in my life and in my family and also the importance of doing the small and simple things in life like seminary, scouts, mutual, going to church, and things like that. It was a special moment in my life and left many people teary-eyed. I was thanked by many after the meeting for sharing my story.
Well it really was a special week for us and hopefully this week is just as good to finish out the change. I cant believe how fast it has gone by! Have a great weekend everyone and eat some watermelon for me! haha. chaíto
elder nelson