Zaida's baptism & the rain in Chile

On friday, the rains came and came hard. They were expecting them to come on Thursday, but on Friday morning around 8:00, they started coming. By 10:15, we had received a call from our Zone Leaders saying that we were permitted to stay in the pension that day unless we had set appointments. The rains came down so hard and the streets started flooding. there were parts of town that had the streets as lakes. In all, it rained a little over 3 inches in a period of 14 hours.

Well, we had Zaida's baptism that evening and with us living half an hour from our sector we had to leave the pension anyway. We filled up the font and then went over the the bishop´s house until the baptism. We did end up having the baptism even though there were poor weather conditions. It was my first opportunity to get in the water to baptize. The font took a little longer to fill so the baptism got started late but all went smoothly after that. On Sunday, Zaida was confirmed a memer of the Church.
What a great week to end off the change. Wow...6 down already! (10 more) haha. Take care! Chao Elder Nelson

The bishops family...the Muñoz family. cool people. Juan, Marcela, Valeria (13), Mizti(10), Monzerat(5) (Monzi)

Elder Dallin H. Oaks

hey everyone so this week was a really good week down here in Chile with a lot of things that went on. On Monday, we had our mission conference with 9 different zones. On Wednesday, we had a special Conference with the whole mission and a special guest speaker...Elder Dallin H. Oaks! We arrived at the mission office in Viña around 7:30ish in the morning and then checked all of our extra stuff into a room. All we could take in the chapel was our scriptures, Preach my Gospel, and a notebook to take notes as well as our hymnbook. We all got lined up for the picture with all 180 of us missionaries and awaited the arrival of the Apostle. Well when he and his wife as well as Elder Corbrige (of the 70) and his wife, and Pres and Sister Wilhelm, we all started singing our Mission Hymn. It was so sweet to see an Apostle so close! At the end of the hymn, he said Gracias. We then took the photo and were able to "bump elbows" with him. we werent allowed to shake his hand because of the H1N1 thing going around...but still it was pretty sweet. In the meeting, i was seated on the front row. That was pretty cool as well. They spoke to us in english and had their translators for the latins. Sister Oaks spoke about the name "Elder" that we carry and that it is the same as Elders Corbrige and Oaks...She said how important it was and what all it meant. She then left us with a quote from the MTC that says, "Be the missionary your mother thinks you are." Elder Oaks talked first about the mantle or title of Apostle and that we dont respect the person who has the title, but the title itself. We spend our whole lives trying to fill our mantle and likewise, we spend our whole missions trying to fill our "mission mantle." He then spoke about tithing and how we could teach it a bit better to our investigators. He came down and stood in front of the white board. (He was right in front of me. I could have tripped him if i wanted to haha). He wrote this on the board..." 90% + Blessings is greater than 100% w/o Blessings." After that, he then shared with us what exactly we do as missionaries. He talked about the name that we carry. It is Jesus Christ. But all throughout the scriptures, we read that it says, "In the name of Jesus Christ"...but what exactly does "the name" mean? He then shared with us a few scriptures that showed what exactly it meant. After 5 or 6 scriptures, he summed it all up...that "the name" of Jesus Christ is His Gospel, His Atonement, His Essence. And that when we take the Sacrament, when is says that we are willing to take upon us the name of Christ, it means that we are willing to be exaulted, or that we are willing to receive Exaltation.
It was really deep for me at first but then after thinking about it it really made sense. I had always thought that a misisonary had it easy to take upon him the name of Jesus Christ because we have our plaques with His name on it...but Elder Oaks explained that it is so much more than just a plaque...it is Everything. He told us that it took him 50 years to figure that out and said that this little bit of information could give us a little head start in our study of the scriptures. He said after that that he hopes that we never read "the name of Jesus Christ" in the same way again. A day or so after, i realized how we close our prayers that we say...it really gave me more meaning to my prayers to know that we close our prayers by saying "in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." What an Experience!!!
Well a great happy late Father´s Day to all you dads. Take care!
chao, elder nelson

All Together in Viña del Mar

ten months earlier at the MTC....

(I'm on the front row far right)

ten months later.... My MTC Group all together again in Viña

(I'm on the front row far left)

hey everyone how are things going? my week went well even though the cold got pretty bad for me. i am used to the nice warm weather but it just isnt that anymore. So i experienced my first rain in chile yesterday as it rained basically all saturday night and all through church and lunch. it kept a lot of people from coming to church sadly.

Today we had a zone conference in Viña. This one was a little different. There were 9 zones there! All of the south! usually they do two different conferences in the south and one in the north. it was really cool with so many missionaries. the photo above took awhile to coordinate. i have now finally seen all of the missionaries from my mtc district. i saw the last two today (elders stratford and crouch). The conference was really good. It was about having effective study and how it will help us not only in the mission work but in our lives afterwards. we also saw some pictures of our new mission president and his wife, President Gillespie. he is a dentist from vancouver washington. Well we have a special mission conference again in viña wednesday. we are going to be having a special guest coming to visit us. well so that you dont die of guessing i guess i will tell you who is coming to talk with us on wednesday...we get to take a apic with him and meet him too... Elder Dallin H. Oaks !!!!!!!! crazy! more to know from this next week ;) well i had a good week and all is well. we are just working hard this week to finish off the week strong as well as leaving the sector in good shape for the next change.

take care, Elder Nelson

June = COLD!

Vina del Mar is considered a rich city in Chile.

It makes missionary work a little difficult.

A mansion in Vina.

Hey everyone how are thing going? This week has been a really good one. I am now all better concerning my health. my doctor visit on tuesday, the tests came out negative (just bad food) so I am good but he put me on the bland diet for another week to be sure. i thought i was going to die when i heard that. i didnt think that it was necessary and needless to say i didnt really follow it that well but havent had any problems with it...so i´m all better.
We now have 4 people that have baptismal dates. Zaida ,Raul ,Mauro and Israel. We are teaching a lot now. We have found the importance of good planning so that we can meet our other goals of contacts and stuff as well.
Well the weather is really getting cold now. i went to quilpue to get some winter stuff. I am going to get a scarf today which is something I never thought I would do. I´m not really the scarf wearing type but being outside all day with dress clothes on I guess it works. It actually hasn’t rained yet which is really weird for here. It actually hasn’t rained since I have been here in Chile. I have heard though that when it rains, it pours. There aren’t drainage systems either so the streets flood over for days.
Well thanks to those that wrote me this week. Hope you have a great week and enjoy the warm weather for me! Talk to you next week! Elder Nelson

Happy 16th Birthday Jentry!

A beautiful view of the Andes Mountains.

Our bunks in our pension...I'm on the bottom.
Elder Davila & me.

Hey things are going a lot better down here. I am feeling much better and am all but better now. After 3 weeks of being sick, i had forgotten how great a normal bathroom trip felt. that actually sounds a little gross. so other than the physical improvements of the week, there were many spiritual ones as well. First of all, Zaida, accepted a baptismal date. Our other investigator, Raul, who has a baptismal date for the 4th of July was gone on saturday so we left him a note on the door saying that we were going to come by to get him for church. We got to his house at 9:15am and he was sitting on the couch waiting for us in a shirt and tie with slacks and shoes, reading the book of mormon. What a great sight. Both Zaida and Raul came to church and loved it! We had a new gospel principles teacher who started yesterday. He did an awesome job and they both really enjoyed it! There was also a couple that had commited to go to church to see how it was there. well they ended up coming and really enjoyed it as well. Caterin, another investigator set a baptismal date as well. so that is what has been going on for us these past few days. some great experiences. It is great to see the change that happens with the people when they start learning and understanding the gospel. We're busy and we have a lot of work to do.
well, HAPPY BIRTHDAY Jentry! hope its a great 16th bday for ya! take care everyone and talk to you all next week. love you lots!

chao elder nelson

Still sick!

Map of the zones in our mission.

Ours is the tiny pink one.

A lady in our ward tried to give me a haircut with this tool. Afterwards I had to go to the barber.
My new diet so I can get better.

hey everyone...
i am feeling a lot better today however this past week i still had diarrhea and wasnt feeling too good. I've been fighting this sickness now for almost 2 weeks. the office elders came and got me on thursday to go to the clinic to see what was wrong with me. last thursday was a holiday here so the only place that was open was the emergency room. they gave me an IV because i had gotten really dehydrated from losing so much water for over a week...i also have to do stool samples for a lab to see what is wrong with me. i have to go back to Viña wednesday. i am still on the bland diet but the hospital gave me a written diet so i made photocopies and gave them to the families that we have eaten lunch with and has been good. i am on the diet until wednesday at the least. I've been fighting the sickness and trying to find people to teach. This week the other Elder Nelson in the mission and I went on exchanges and had a lot of success. We had a good day. Well thanks for the letters. take care and talk to you all next week. chao elder nelson

Transfer again...El Belloto, Estero Viejo

My new companion,

Elder Davila from Fort Worth, TX.

Cecilia, Macarea, Daniela....investigators in Vina.

Goin' home....Good-bye Elder Schneider...you're a ROCK!

(First comp in Chile....last night in the mission field)

Hey everyone how are things going?
This past week we had changes. It turns out that my stay in Viña was to be for only 6 weeks. I am now in a town called El Belloto in the sector of Estero Viejo. It is in the city or outskirts of the city Quilpue. We are 30 minutes inland from Vina. Our sector has lots of apartment buildings and that means lot of stairs. My new companion is Elder Davila from Fort Worth , TX. This is only his second change in the mission. He was trained by a latin who was in his last change so I am teaching him a lot of what goes on in the mission. Everyone here says that my comp looks a lot happier now that he has a companion from the same country. I can only imagine what it would have been like with a latin for the first 6 weeks of being in Chile. The sector is pretty cool. We live 25 minutes outside of our sector and its only us two that live in the pension.
This past week I have been pretty sick. I thought it would just pass by but on the 4th day I called Hma. Wilhelm and got the medicine I needed. I had to stay in the pension on Saturday evening and rest. I am now on a special “bland diet” as you could say. Only rice and white noodles with lots of liquids. No milk products, raw veggies or fruits, and no bread. Its not that fun to tell you the truth. Our pension is pretty deprived on appliances too so my normal eating habits wont take place here either. There is only a fridge and a stove. No microwave or sandwich maker…..AHHHH! Well I am on the diet until tomorrow evening so I can make it until then I guess.
In the sector I came to nothing again so we are in the searching business. Well that is about all that has been going on for me this week. Just hangin in there and trying to find people to teach. Thanks to those that wrote this week. Take care everyone and have a great week. Say hi to everyone for me and good luck Jeni with Graduation and everything this week. I´m proud of ya :) Have a good week. Chaíto, elder nelson