Last Week of January (and the week before!)

Ohh wow, can you beleive it was just a year ago that i was left to work with the yearlings all alone while clint was in Texas, where does the time go... SO this wekk, well it passed pretty slow but it was alright.  Peirdras Negras is a really big area so its been quite an adventure here.  I dont think i ever want to do another whitewash.  We have just been having to get to know the area a litte more every day, we are surrounded by all sorts of little towns as well, so there is alot to explore.  Pretty much things went down liek this: Tuesday morning, i finished packing, then we went to the bus stations and those getting transfered or going home took the bus to veracruz, from there i saw a few people that i wanted to talk to then we went to the misison office.  We had to go to the mission office because the secrataries had to take us to the area.  THere are alot of rnachos here, lots of cattle ranches and farms, so it makes for neat bus rides.  SO me and Elder Trujillo load up in the misison van and head off to Piedras Negras.  About 2 hourse of driving we get to the area, tiny little town, the biggest grocerie store is compared top a circle k maybe.  Here its a branch, and we have a "House of Prayer" for our church building.  Its a little building but yesterday it worked well, we have to hold sactapment meeting outside.  Me and Elder Trujillo we asked to speak thursday by the branch predident, and i didnt prepare anything for my talk untill 10 seconds before, but surprising i think it turned out well, it was about the importance of converting ourselves to the Gospel, with personal prayer and study, i was quoted a few times throught the rest of church so i guess it went well.  Its still a little wierd to always speak another language ha! Our house here is pretty sweet, its alot bigger than the one room i had in Xalapa, adn we have continued to have hot water.. YES! We have a room for studies and to sleep and to eat, it doenst have any form of kitchen, just a sink, but the bathroomk is the nicest one i have had so far.  THe Elders before us left a bit of a mess,so we did alot of cleaning the first day, ill sent pics next week.   SO now onto the People, the Elders From Before left a 3 investigators,  but none of them have made progress for a while, there is a youung couple who we are gonna try to help get marriede.   But in our first week, we found 10 new investigators, they all seem to have good potential, but then that leads up to the next part.. yesterday.  Here church starts at 10, thats the first time i havent had early church for my whole mission! But yea another week of nobody showing up to church, we even passed by for jusr about everyone, but nobody showed, so If anybody has any info, or advise for getting people to church please let me know! And as for me, well when i saw predident in the offices he said it was the happiesest and must pumed he has seen me in my time here.  Leaving Xalapa wasnt a fun thing, but i felt really good coming into this transfer, i left feeling really good.  THen this whole week i have felt erally good.  THe Lord has really blessed me alot this week with my attitude and how im feeling.  To tell the truth, whe we first got here i was extremply imtimidated at the challenge of resurectign an area.  THis are has produced great things in the past apparently, so im exeted to see what can be done, but intimidated as well.  THe bakeries are really good here, i think i have gone atleast once a day haha! BUt fortunatly its really cheap to get things from them! Im not sure how we are going to do for the teransfer, we have made a goal of 6, but after yesterday nothing is going to happen for atleast 3 weeks, so we will see.  So just please pray that i can stay positive and that we can figure out how to get peopel to go to church! BUt getting to know a completly new area at the same time as your comp has been a really fun adventure, the members have been helpfull and loving and im very greatfull for that! BUt thats all i can think of, i love you all and im so gratefull for you lvoe and prayers, and for your communication, every bit helps so thanks! 






24 January 2011

Well if you havent cought on to it yet, i have been transfered, tomorrow i ship of to... Peidras Negras! ITs a little city south of Veracruz, i havent he3ared much about it.  Me and Elder >Trujillo will ne white washing the place so it will be... a great learning experience.  Im really going to miss the Xalapeño weather, its a dream here, not to different from Arizona, when there are clouds its cold and when its sunny its warm.  This week it got so foggy we got to where we couldnt see 10 feet in front of us (it made contact really interesting).  Talk about heavenly eh?? And here because tis so humid when it gets cold there is something called "Chipi Chipi" and that is when the air gets so cold that the humidity truns to water, its basically feels life a good drizzle, but its more like mornign dew on steroids.  Its sweet! So now on to the week i guess.  So Tuesday there was a capacitationfor leaders in veracruze so elder merino had to go to that with elder greenfield, who is going to recieve a misisonary who has 1 transfer.  So because of this we had to switch me adn Elder Greenfield houses for monday night.  So i was with Elder Alder tuesday and monday night, it was pretty sweet if i dont say so myself, we talked alot about good ol call of duty and natzi zombies and some other things along those lines and to tell the truth we talked about everything and anything, man i love doing that.  BUt it was pretty sweet to be with Edler Alder, i dotn mean to make it sound like i dont like being with elder merino, i love him too, but i dotn live iwht elder alder and it was all in ENGLISH haha but we slipped in out of spanish on accident it was pretty interesting.  ACtuall of the the american make fun of me because i cant talk straight english anymore! Im beccoming well known for my spanglish! I guess thats what i get for having native comps 27\7 .  But  yea we avtually taught 3 lessons togeather, so that was sweet, i love teaching! THen the reast of the week was fear of the transfer calls, elder merino had ben given the idea that i was going to get transfered when he was at the offices so this weke went fast and slow at the same time.  We ended up getting 11 new investigatores this week, so of course the area picks up when its my time to leave :\ but thats alright, the important thing is that we all make it to the same finish.  we ended the week with 124 contacts, wich was sweet, it took a good amount of work to get them all and if we didnt have 6 hours of church on sundays we would have gone all the way to 140, but we did good i thought.  I have heared all kinds of "wonderfull" things about my next area.  BUt i try not ot listen, its a new area and a new transfer so we will see what the lord has prepared.  Then this week i have spent soem time just reflecting on my mission, going through pictures and journal and everything.  I guess i feel like im trying to figure out what i want form this next year, what are my goals nad what am i going to do.  I cant beleive clouse and adams are already hitting thier year mark, i still remember my last nights with both of them perfectly, and that means mine is coming up fast. 

  As well i have heared a few things about the superbowl from members but to tell the truth i really dont know anyting about it.  Greenbay and the packers? How are good ol Arizona sports doing? But i think that all for the week, i cant think of anythign else, so it will be interesting to see what i have to say in my next area! Take care and i love you all!

A Baptism in Xalapa

Hmm,  what to say about this week.... Well Carlos was baptized this past saturday, it was a neat survice, he asked be to do the Honors, that was was fun.   He is going to be a really good convert, he has already read most of the LDM (BOOK of mormon, y clado que esta en español).  SO thats sweet, so now we get to start the post lessons with him and that will be neat.  Juan migh tnot be baptized will will just have to wait and see.  ANd then nobody else showed up to church wich was a real doozy so that mean this transfer is wrappin up, and man thats just crazy, my year makr is only 2 transfers away and nest transfer jake and clouse hit the hump! Ahhhhh! We found a family this past week, the seemed to take to the lesson 1 real well, i its possible othat they did their homework, if they did i will cry for happiness... on the inside. But they have bewcome a little shady with appointments, so im losing faith in them, so ill work on repenting for that.  SAnd then we have another family, all were baptised but the mother a a few years ago and so we are trying to help here out and get the whole family activated again.  BUt she didnt show to church, probably because of work.  SO hopefully soonly, all of the contacts, and false diractions and bailed and cancelled appointment will lead us to a family of to someone who God will let us help, so will just keep on going i guess. Im officially half way through the new testament, i start the acts today.  I started way back in utah, but i always get side tracked with so many things to study hahah but im really trying to get it all done so i can start up dc again and read the book of mormon again and finish with the old testament so we will se what happens. SOund like everything at home is great, all the changes at the house are probably gonna be pretty sweet! BUt thats all for this week folks, tune in next time to see what happens...!

Xalapa: Week 3

Hello fam, and anyone else...

Happy New Years! This letter will probably be long because i didnt end up getting on the internet last week.  So we will start with Christmas. The whole skype thing was pretty sweet and fun. The time went by way to fast! THe work has been so slow this christmas season, which has been a bummer, but it's challenging us to be diligent.  for christmas we went and ate with Hermans Blanca, the wards here didnt really invite us to do anything exepts her, so we ate dinner with her, elder moreno talked to his family while i helped cook, then we did a little kareoke, adn around 10 we went to the zoneleaders house and played risk untill 230 in the morning.  We woke up, did the mourning routine then as  zone we did our zone gift exchange, i fogot to take pics of the whole thing so ill work on getting those from other elders, after that we went and did service at soem kids shelter, but nobody ended up being there so we just sang to the two that were thatere and elder casteneda layed the guitar, then the elders that brought gifts gave a bag of gifts to the shelter, (they were all just cheap little toys bought off the street).  THen it was back to the normal work routine up untill new years.  New years night we all ate as a zone in a members house, it was good we ate tukey spageti and mached potatoes with Jamaica ( a really good drink here) we didnt do anything for new years night, becaus of all the fireworks it soundouded like worldwar 3 unti8ll 3 in the morning, so i just wrote in my journal and read a little bit, nothing like the old testament to but you to sleep with its mazelike verses! haha but for new years day we had a zone activity from 10 to 4 so we watched toy story 3 and ice age 3, i really liked toy story 3, actually all of them are good to tell the truth, well have to hve a toy story marathon some day! then we played soem games, including risk again, and then after all that it was already 4 and time to get to work.  I just realized it hasnt taken long at all to describe these last two big holidays, so if there are any specific details you wanna know just ask me im sure ill remember it! SO the work here had ben slow, right now we have a baptism set fo this week with Carlos, i dont know if i have said anything about him yet or not, but her has been really good, we have been teaching him 3 weeks and he is already about to starat mosiah, so that awesome, im not comletly sure why yet, but when investigators readl the bom that gives me one of the best feelings ever.  Carlos seems to be progressing really well, we have already taught him everything so now we just reviwe the baptism questions and wathch church movies with him because they bring the spirit really strong, but im exited for his baptism and it will be neat to ha my first here in Xalapa after knocking a million doors and many false attempts to contact people in the street.  We are also teaching Juan, i dont know what i have said about hhim, he didnt go to church last week so i think if he gets baptized it wont be untill next week.  Last lesson we had with him we had to basically go over the book of mormon invitation all over again because he didnt read or pray, man if people only understood how important that part is! SO after about an 45 mins of testifying and convincing and talking and answering his endless dounbts he finally realized he needs to read and pray, so hopefully wqe can see him soon to see how things are, i hopw all is well wit him, he wasnt at church yesterdy so im growing worried.  THen last night the district leaders had a training, so those of us who were jr coms just chilled and studyied and elder Watson, who is from utah just talked about anything and everything it was fun, it always feels good to have a good conversation in english.  By the way mom, you would be proud to know that the other day a sister said i had to be the most polite missionary that had ever eaten at here house, just htought you would liek tpo know that! SO Jumping back, new years day nihgt, everybody was drunk and wasted form teh day before, so there was nobody in the street and nothing going on so me and elder merino had a nice conversation, and at the end of it i re learnded something very valulable, which is that I just need to be myself and stop worrying about the changes that I want to make on the mission and what I think I need to change, because the Lord already accepts me the way I am, and with that I can do anything.  so thats what i have been working on, and then last night wfter the training we were invited to a family home evening of some members, so we went and it was about talents, and we had to do the whole thing where you sya a talent and a gift that other people have and it was interesting to hear what people who dont know me had to say about me, the said im very happy person and i guess the best translation for alegre is upbeat, maybe but they said i have a very strong desire to do the right things and to do good, i though that was an interesting first impression ha and then i learned i need to work on my ability to trust and use the Holy Ghost in all things and that i need to learn how to not only have faith but to learn and exercise it, so those are three things im starting to work on, it will probably take more than my life to start, but as for now, i hav enow idea where or how to start.  BUt i guess oyu could say thats the week, always remember that i love you all and som so gratefull for you love and prayers for me!  Take care, and dont enjoythe cold too much while im away! pS i found my charger again so ill work on getting more pics of the city for yall! 

Xalapa

Hmm....what to say about this week....well, I'm not sure exatly where I should start so we will see how it all pans out! SO as you already know, I have been enjoying my first week here in Xalapa.  It's pretty sweet here. Sometimes I forget I'm in Mexico to tell the truth.  But one of my favorite parts is the hot water heater in our apartment! Ohh man you don't even know! 


There is a lot of work to be done here. My area is called Americas. We have 2 wards: Americas and Ensueño. They are both really neat wards, and the members are all such neat people! Our apartment is just a one room flat that is forever high in the sky. The staircase is the next best thing to rock climbing here, but my luggage made it up, so no worries there! It's neat though because we have a neat little view of a small portion of the city.  It's so BIG here. Man, I forgot what a big city feels like. I gotta get some pictures so you guys can see. It's a really pretty city.  It gets pretty cold because of the humidity, and possibly because I was in the hottest part of the mission before here.  But I'm planning on buying a sweater or two and maybe a sleeping bag! Ha, but the teaching pool is pretty dry, so hurray for   basically whitewashing the week of Christmas, actually it's not that bad.  My comp is Elder Moreno. He is from Mission Tampico--and yes, I got another DL for my comp. Who knows what's up with that. But he is chill. He is different from any comp I have had before, he is from a small town in el Estado de Mexico. He came here when they did all the changing of the boundaries here.  He goes home this April, so he's starting do his final big push in the mission. But we have a lot of potential success here, a lot of it just depends on us and what we do. So cross your fingers for something good to come out of all this. 


This week I'm really just trying to figure out how to be a good missionary but at the same time enjoy my mission. It's harder than it sounds, ha, but I guess it will just come in time. I certainly am open to any inspiration or advice! But I guess we can talk more on the phone this Friday, man thats gonna be sweet! Welp hope all of ya enjoy your navidad, cuz I know I'm going to, because we have Costco, Samsclub, and Walmart here! So things should be good! I finally get to drink real milk again! All of the milk here is milk that is rotten proof and it worked wonders for the intestines, so hurray for real milk again, and thank you Costco! But yeah, those or the words I have acerca de this week so hope you all enjoy, and I can't even wait until Friday! Peace and take luck! 

Last week of the transfer! (AND PICTURES)

So as you might have guessed this week was my last week in tierra blanca, we trasnfres tommorrow, and im going to Xalapa!! How crazy is that! I have wanted to go there ever since i knew anything about this mission! Im soo Stoaked, Apparently the have carls jr there and all kinds of amaerican stuff, man that gonna be crazy to see again! THe best we have in tierra blanca is whats called CHedraui and thats like THe neiborhood cwalmart wiht less selection!! AHHH hah as you can tell im stoaked! But i really did love so much of my time here in tierra blacna! THis are placed some big striggles in front of me that really made me did down and decide what the heck im doing in a whole other country! but i made it! We had the Baptism of HRna Magali adn her doughter Crystal this week sucha  great service, we had the suprise visit of Pres Hansen and Sister Hansen, they came to talk to some of the other elderes in ther area.  But we were headed to the capilla(church building) and i saw thier van iand i thought,  thta is a really clean care (because thats not norma here) then they started waving at us, and i thought i know them i thnk, ha and finally my brain kicked in and it was President and Sister Hansen! Man they attended the servicio and is was such a neat expereience! Hrna magali is cousins to Julio and after they were baptised she became really interested in the church because of the big difference it made in them! BUt now im off to Xjalapa to contunue on with this hole mission expereice! Im so stoaked for the cold, and i pray i will hvae a water heater! And maybe if im luck i will have  white christ mas eh?! but there are alot of hills there so that should kep me warm haha president called me this week about the transfer and he tole me "elder nelson we are transfering you"

Me

" uhh what?"

EL

"wwe are sendign you to a place were the elderes there usually like to hav gloves and sweaters, and its gts in the negative celcius"

Me

"HEck yea!  DO i have to wait untill saturday to know where?"

Pres

"Heck yea!"

so it actualy want intill yesterday that i learned i was going to Xalapa, im exited, elder cateneda will be my zl there and it will be sweet to see him again! But yea is say thats about all this week, i anxiouse to see how the week is going to go, tomorrow we get to go to veracruz for the transfers ans its always fin to go to veracruz! So thaks all of you for everything it all truly is appreciated, i cant even describe my appreciation.  SO i hope all of you ake care as we close in on christmas and you enjoy it! ps i got pics on the way!