A SHAKY ONE!!! & Eduardo's Baptism

Hey everyone how are things going?
Well this past week sure has been a shaky one! As you all know, Chile was hit by a big earthquake early Saturday morning. We were sleeping and around 3:30am, were awoken to the whole house shaking. It was strangely quiet because with the little earthquakes (temblors) it is usually louder but it was a longer one that was stronger than usual. I looked outside to see all of the cables shaking a lot and of course heard all of the dogs howling up a storm. We were really too tired to realize what was going on and fell back to sleep. In the morning we received phone calls from the mission office asking how things were up here and telling us that things were pretty bad down south. Later on in the day, we saw that the real problems were in Concepción and Santiago. Viña got a bit of it but up here in the 4th region, there werent any problems.

Eduardo's Baptism and Elder Millar

Lucky for us, we were still able to have Eduardo's baptism that evening. It was such a perfect baptismal service. The branch president, President Varas, baptized him. It was the best baptism I have seen. Pres. Varas later told us that as Eduardo was coming up out of the water, he already had his eyes open and as he came out, he started to cry and gave pres. Varas a hug and said that he felt so good and was never going to forget how he felt in that moment. Elder Millar and I sang in the baptismal service. We sang "There is Sunshine in my Soul Today" only it was in spanish and without piano. I guess it sounded really good. I had no idea because i cant hear myself when i sing. It is Eduardo's absolute favorite song! He loves it! He actually started singing it under his breath with us as we were singing. I played the opening and closing hymns on the piano as well.

We were supossed to have changes today but they are being delayed until next week of the end of this week. The airport in Santiago is still closed so the new missionaries cant get into the country. We will have to see how things go.

Thank you to those of you who have us, the missionaries, and the Chilean people in your prayers. Have a great week!
Elder Nelson

Update

Hello all!
We were so lucky....Jaren called around 5:15pm Saturday night to assure us that all is well. They got shook up but no damages to their apartment and they are fine. The city of Ovalle had a little damage but no reported injuries or death.
Thank you all for your love and concern....We love you all!

Update from President Gillespie
On Saturday morning, February 27th, at 3:35am, our missionaries were forcefully shaken awake by a powerful earthquake. Lasting for over 1 1/2 minutes, the rocking and rumbling finally subsided. Although much was in disarray, we were deeply grateful that within two hours we were able to contact each of our 190 missionaries and find them safe and unharmed. For several days that followed, most went without power and without water service for a significant amount of time. We quickly realized the miracle that had occurred a few months earlier when boxes of water bottles from an anonymous donor arrived at the mission office. Each of our missionaries had the opportunity to begin using these bottles, which purify water as it is consumed. Even though the water supply & quality were uncertain, we were assured that our missionaries would have pure water to drink at all times. The timing was not a coincidence......but a wonderful miracle. We feel the presence of the Lord and His watchful care constantly.

8.8 EARTHQUAKE ! ! ! 2-27-10 3:34am

Good Morning everyone!
I'm sure you're as shocked this morning as we were to wake up and see the news about the earthquake in Chile and of course, we're are very concerned about Jaren and the other missionaries safety. This is what we know:

Jaren is currently in the city of Ovalle which is 5 hours north of Vina del Mar. Vina del Mar is about 1 hour north of Santiago.
He is also about an 1.5 hours inland--so safe from Tsunamis as well. We haven't heard from Jaren but Jentry talked this morning with some friends in Ovalle that he's made on facebook. They felt the quake pretty strong. They say there is some damage there but everyone in Ovalle is safe.

We'll post more when we know, but we feel pretty sure that he is OK.
Love to you all!

A Happy Birthday!

Family Rojas Henriques - 1st counselor in the branch (next to me)

They are very awesome!

El Relajo - Happy B'day lunch!

My favorite restaurant in Chile!

Happy B'day Tele-pizza

hey mom good morning. how are things going? Things this week went really well. We had a conference in La Serena on Saturday that went really well. The focus of the conference was on being prepared to teach with the Spirit. Elder Millar and I also taught a workshop on asking questions. It was pretty cool because we had members there from the La Serena stake that were the "investigators" for the practices.
On Sunday, our investiagtor, Eduardo, had his baptismal interview with President Gillespie. He is now ready to be baptized this Saturday at 7:00 in the evening! He is so excited. He has been inviting everyone in the ward to his baptism. We met up with him in the Plaza de Ovalle to walk to the church together and he said that he had gotten there an hour early and was just talking with people in the plaza. When we were walking he said that he had invited a few people that he talked to to go to his baptism. Haha. He can´t wait!
There is something special happening in the zone of Ovalle right now. For the past few months, we have been a little low in baptisms for the zone with only between 2 and 5, and it was looking like we were going to be getting only 4 this month. Somehow, things worked out in the branches and it looks like we will be getting between 7 and 10 baptisms this coming weekend. We only have one for the month as of right now, but 6 have passed their interviews and a couple with their son just got married this past weekend. They could have their interviews tomorrow and get baptized this weekend! That would be so cool! The zone hasnt gotten 10 baptisms in one month for well over a year.
Well it is hard to believe that this is now the last week of the change. They just keep going faster and faster. The weather has been really nice this past week. A couple of days were just pure heat but the weekend was really nice and only in the low 80's.
Thank you to all that wrote me this week wishing me Happy Birthday. All we really did that day was work like any other day. We ordered pizza on Tuesday night and ate good but other than that it was pretty normal. Well everyone have a great week. take care
Chao,
Elder Nelson

Bird (Parrots) on a Wire

Parrots in Monte Patria Map of mission

Hey everyone how are things going? Things have been great for me this past week. The main thing that has happened is that our investigator, Eduardo, is progressing really well. This week we have basically finished all of the teaching that he needs. One cool experience that I had was when we taught him the law of Tithing. He doesnt have a great financial situation at all but we really were preparing the morning of the lesson on how we could teach this principal well. We focused on the blessings that we get from paying our tithing and why we cant afford not to do it. He understood it really well and accepted the commitment to pay his tithing after getting baptized. He is scheduled to get baptized on the 27th of February :) On Friday, I finished my "Tour de Ovalle" as I went out to Monte Patria to work with Elder Tensmeyer. I have now stayed the night and worked in every sector here in the zone of Ovalle. Out there, it was way hot! For sure in the high 90's with little wind. It felt like my legs were melting. One cool thing about Monte Patria though is that there are tons of parrots at night. I guess it would be kind of annoying to have to hear them all night long but for one night it was kind of cool. During the day they take off to all the vineyards to eat and stuff but in the night, come into town because they like the lights. It was fun to be with Elder Tensmeyer again. He has progressed a lot and is now in his 5th change! Today he had emergency changes as his comp left to La Serena This weekend we have a conference in La Serena. It should be good. Well hope all of you have a great week. ChaoElder Nelson

Happy Valentine's Day

hey good morning how are things going? this week has been really busy for me. We went to Viña on Friday for the zone counsel. It was a really good time. I really love those. So I guess the big news for the week is that we now have someone with a baptismal date. His name is Eduardo Alarcóm. He is a 47 year old guy that sure doesnt have the best financial situation but is so humble and grateful for what he has. Before in his life, he lived in Santiago and had a big house and a truck and restaurant with the family and everything was going great until the grandma decided to leave all of it in the name of the sister. She decided to sell it all and left him with nothing. It doesnt really help that he is epileptic either. He lives alone and works in the city center selling candies and stuff in the street. He absolutely loves going to church though and reading the scriptures. In one of our lessons this week, he told us that it was kind of hard for him to read. His glasses arent that great i guess. Well, I always carry around a little magnifying glass with me for the people who say that they cant read the letters of the scriptures so that they dont have an excuse. I gave it to him and he was so grateful. I also gave one to Tatiana who got baptized a few weeks ago. Yesterday she told me that it has helped her so much in everything; work, and in reading the scriptures. So yesterday, Eduardo showed up to church over an hour early to go up into the chapel and read the scriptures. Tonight we are having a ward family home evening in the church to help him and the other investigators get to know the members or the branch. It will be really fun. He cant wait for his baptism on the 20th of February!
The weather is really hot now and the sun is stronger than ever. It really helps us with our awesome farmer tan that we get in the summer down here. good thing it goes away in the winter.
This week, I got my package. Thanks for the things that you sent :) Well hope all of you have a great Valentine's day! Hugs and Kisses ;) haha chao

Elder Nelson

0102 2010

Hey family how are things going? Things are going really well for me. I don’t have any time today to write, but just wanted to say hi and that things are going really well. This past week we had interviews with President Gillespie and his wife. They went really well. On Tuesday, we had a special meeting with just my companion, Elder Millar, me, President Gillespie, and the District President, President Concha. We talked about the missionary work here in the district and some of the things that could be done to strengthen each unity down here. It was a good meeting. Man, President Gillespie is a smart man! On Wednesday, we had the opportunity to do divisions with the assistants. I went with Elder Reid. He came in with me and it was fun to see how he was doing. We had good success that day. We taught 5 lessons in 5 hours and at the end of the day, Elder Millar and I finished with two more. Elder Millar and Elder Haymore, the other assistant, had two lessons. We finished the day with 9 lessons. That was pretty cool.
This Friday we are going down to Viña for zone counsel. Hopefully this time the bus doesn’t break down haha.
In terms of our investigators, we are still plugging along with them but we need to find a way to help all of them progress. They have all kind of hit a wall and can’t get over it. Good thing that it is fast Sunday coming up this weekend :)
Well everyone, take care and have a great weekend! Love you all tons,
Elder Nelson
P.S. Take a look at today’s date! It’s the same backwards and forwards! Cool! ¡BACÁN!
01-02-2010 (here the day comes first)