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

June 28, 2010

50 Days left!!!

My new bed...no more sleeping in a "U" Yeah!

My Old BedAh! I love you new mattress!!
I am so happy! It's so nice and flat and doesn't dip in the middle? And it is just waiting to give me a good nite's sleep!

hey everyone how are things going?
this week has been a very wet one. the chilean winter is here as just about everyday of the past week had rain. It finally cleared up on Saturday afternoon which brought in clear skies and cold temperatures. Things went pretty slow but we have some good things going on for this week. The gonzalez vega family that went to church last week was gone for the whole weekend but said that we could come by whenever this week to teach them so we will be starting teaching them tonight. Chile has now won two world cup games and the whole country is in an uproar of excitement. They just beat Switzerland this morning 1-0 and everyone is driving around with flags and honking their horns.
Well that is about all that has gone on this week. Happy late fathers day to all you dads out there haha. have a great week and talk to you next week. take care
elder nelson

Backwards MTC time...9 weeks left

Quilpue

New Merengue flavored Oreos here
My plaque

hey good morning how are things going?

Well yesterday i hit my 22 month mark. Its really weird that I have the same time left that it takes to go through the MTC...9 weeks. Elder Saldivar and I get along really well and are enjoying our time together. Last night he got his first experience of strong Chilean rainstorms as it dumped on us for a good few hours. Luckily we were inside for the family home evening and were driven back home. even though we were outside for only a minute or so, we still got pretty wet. Today its a bit overcast and they are calling for more rain tomorrow but we will see.

things are going good here. Last night we had a neat experience. We planned a family home evening with our ward mission leader and another family that are members. They invited a family that lives in between them to come. Well by inviting them to the family home evening, they went to church in the morning and in the evening to the family home evening. they told us that they were looking for a change in their lives and loved it in the church. They felt really comfortable there and their kids liked it too. They have two daughters ages 15 and 9. The one that is 9 loved primary and the other was sick and didnt go. It truely is a blessing to have a family to teach here. I know that God does answer prayers and that there is a great special power in fasting. The Gonzalez family has been well taken in to the branch and it will be really fun watching them progress in the Gospel. We also received a reference from Villa Alemana where I was last change. It was for a 14 year old girl that wants to get baptized. Her name is Tatiana. We taught her and her mom on Saturday night.

We are pumping up the branch and trying to get them excited to share the Gospel with their friends, relatives, and neighbors. We are having family home evenings with the families of the branch. We try to have at least 3 or 4 planned each week. It has given us good results so far.

Earlier in the week we had interviews with President and Hermana Gillespie. President Gillespie told me about how important the ability to focus is. He told me a story about when Rush Limbaugh went golfing with Tiger Woods and was just amazed at how nervous he (Rush) was at playing with so many people watching him but on the other hand, watching Tiger just be able to close everything out and focus on the job at hand helped him to have the success that he wanted. We need to do that too in our lives at whatever thing we are focusing on. He told Elder Owen, a missionary that has the same time as me that we need to "Choose to be young again (in the mission)." That will give us the same fire that we need to keep going and finishing strong.

I was also able to go on intercambios with Elder Pleytéz, my zone leader from Honduras. He lives in the Tegucigalpa mission where Jonny Roberts served. We had a good day and were able to find a lady to teach that listened to the missionaries awhile ago. Her name is Lidia.

Well everyone have a great week! Love you all!

"From apples to grapes, from grapes to cherry"

Sunset in Quilpue

Hey everyone how are things going? Things are starting to get going here in Los Aromos. We found a 20 year old kid named Javier that used to go with his friend in Viña to church there and was really receptive to us. He actually came to church with us on Sunday. We had a good lesson with Maria Morlas, a lady that we are teaching that is looking for the fullness of the gospel basically.
This week I did intercambios with Elder David in Paso Hondo. It was fun doing intercambios with him. I saw him when he got to the mission and was in my zone in Ovalle in his second change. Now he is training and its fun seeing his progress. He is a good missionary and a diligent worker. We decided to invite people to hear us sing a hymn for them and we got into three houses that day.
Last night we had a special meeting with all of the ward mission leaders of the Quilpué stake, us, and President Gillespie. It was to talk about the new program that we are starting to help the missionary work in each ward progress faster. It was pretty good. Right after that, we had a Family Home Evening with the Cubillos family. They are an awesome family in the branch. He is the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency. They are relatively new to the branch. They have been here around a year. It was really fun. Elder Saldivar taught the lesson on the importance and blessings of reading the scriptures daily. We then had some games. One game was everyone picked a fruit and while covering your teeth with your lips, you had to say " from apple to grapes", "from grapes to cherry" but if you showed your teeth you were out. Its really hard because you want to laugh and it makes your face tired after a little bit. The family invited a member of the church that had recently moved to the neighborhood. She was baptized about a year ago in Juan Fernandez Island. She hasn't gone to church for quite a while. It was fun getting to know her too. The Cubillos family has a son serving in the Bolivia Santa Cruz mission. Right now he is actually learning Portuguese because he is right on the border of Brazil.
Well that is what is going on here with me. Have a great week everyone and talk to you next week.
elder nelson

Urrutia Family & Giovanni Baptism

Ward mission leader- Esteban Vargas, Elder Allenbach, Giovanni, me

Elder Allenbach, Giovanni, the Urrutia Family & me

hey family how are things going?

this was a week full of different feelings and experiences. First of all, I was able to go to the baptism of the Urrutia family and Giovanni decided that he actually did want to get baptized in the end. :) I baptized the mom, Aliette and the daughter Valentina. It was really special seeing all of them in white. We took a bus that was driving so slow that we showed up 15 minutes late and everyone was waiting for us. we actually ended up getting off the bus and taking another one because of how slow it was going. the service was a good one and it was nice to see everyone including my old companion, Elder Allenbach.
Well now I am in Los Aromos, Quilpué. My new companion's name is Elder Saldivar. He is from San Luis, Mexico. He is in his 4th change and hit 5 months in the mission today. When I got to the new area, the first thing I noticed was the giant hill that I now belong to. We didnt have much of anything going on but last night we were able to set a baptismal date with someone that went to church yesterday. Her name is Julia Thayer. She is 62 and lives with her daughter. She is really looking for something in her life to help her have more happiness. We are focusing on the blessings that the gift of the Holy Ghost gives. She has progressed a lot this week. The branch is considerably smaller than my last ward in Villa Alemana. There were like 60 people attending and they had me play for Sacrament Meeting.
One of the highlights of the week was going to Viña for a special conference with Elder Jensen of the Presidency of the 70. Elder Nuñez, an area authority came with him. Elder Jensen basically taught the whole time about the importance of creating an environment where the Spirit can teach the people. We can do this by preparing ourselves to have the Spirit, sing hymns, and that kind of stuff. We need to help others recognize that people knew this plan that we teach even before they came to the earth. we need to wake the spirit that is within them. elder nuñez in the end bore his testimony about how when he had 22 months in the mission and was with a younger missionary, he read in Alma 29 where it says, "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!" That really shows the change that Alma had during his mission. He spoke about how he also desired to have that same feeling. He committed himself to talking to everyone and working as hard as he could so that he could be more like Alma. He also said that in those 2 months, he was changed as a person and in those 2 months, he changed the way the rest of his life would be. His words really impacted me as I find myself in his same shoes.
I know that this Gospel is true and that it is the only road to eternal happiness. I have had the blessing to be able to see what the Gospel of Jesus Christ does to a family starting from ground zero. What a blessing. I know this Church is true and we have a living prophet today.
Have a great Memorial Day everyone!
Con amor,
Elder Nelson