Week of July 23rd, 2017

I knew it was moms birthday on the 31st I'm getting better about the birth dates. Getting a little lazy this year, "just gonna buy a cake" lol pretty soon you ll stop running and just will eat on the couch watching hockey with your dogs. Dang I would love to go out there on the lake, one of my buddies that went home recently sent us a video of him wake boarding to make us all jealous.  How is Thor doing? Is he still fat? I was thinking about that too about 3 transfers more and ill have another skype. After this next one we've got General Conference again! Crazy that Bennets home, who is next to get back? Max? then Jackson then Zane and Jake then Parker. I would love another package, Elder Prince got one recently and it made me a little jealous haha. You don't have to worry about my fluency lol I already give training to all the missionaries in Spanish, I have received the gift of tongues abundantly. 

To mom:

I knew it was your birthday to my credit! Happy birthday mama, how blessed I am to have a mother even more awesome than I am, I gave a talk to the mission about humility this week did it work? Lol I gave president a hard time that he gave me that topic and made him laugh a bunch. I think he likes having me around because I think I naturally neutralize stress that people might have, like the Labrador with the cheetah at the zoo* lol, I'm a Labrador that's why I love those dogs so much, but yes the truth is Ill probably be in here for a while til January February or march I'm guessing if not more. There some rumours that ill get made assistant and if that happens ill be here for a while if not I might leave in December or something. Try not to go to crazy with the DoorDash or ubereats stuff lol cause that ruins all the treadmill work lol. Things are good here in the offices its really like Ive got 5 companions cause we always do stuff together. This week I'm going with President and the assistants to Beni and Ill get to visit my converts familia moreno over there and I'm really excited to see them. Love you mama happy birthday again!​

*At the San Diego zoo theres an 'ambassador' program that raises labradors and cheetahs or wolves together from basically pup-hood. The dog is there to help mellow out the cheetah or wolf that its paired with

Week of June 4th, 2017

       Hey dad, it is winter here and some days its freezing cold. I finally have been wearing the winter clothing that I've had. I haven't decided if I like the hot or the cold better, I don't like being hot but I don't like wearing 5 layers to stay warm either. We have air conditioning in our house but it makes cold air. Its hard to get out and teach people and I'm a little stressed over the people we want to baptize this month and its going to be difficult, but we need the faith to get these people in the water. This week we had a meeting with all the zone leaders in the mission and the secretaries. President asked me to give a training/class on putting baptismal dates with people and making sure that they don't fall through. Also we will have multi zone conferences this week and president has asked me to do the same thing but for following up on references and using the reference system we have on the Internet. Its a different missionary life but as long as I can baptize in my own area and help the mission be better ill be happy. I do hear from Zane on email, and the other day I got a hand written letter from him. It is super crazy that he already has a year, and Jake next month has a year too. Happy 33rd anniversary to you and mom, great example of a marriage to all of us rascals and I hope it will be the same for me. Have a good week Dad

Week of May 28th, 2017

**Sorry I have been slacking on the updates. Parker has a new PDay and will read and respond to emails on Saturday**

*This is the email we received two weeks ago

So I'm writing this on Saturday cause I'm in the mission offices and our pday is on Saturday. I have been transferred to be the new Health Secretary of the mission, I'm really just the secretary for Hna Cabezas. My new companion is Elder Vallejo from Ecuador this is his last transfer til he goes home, but he wants to go out with a bang and we're hoping to baptize a bunch of people this last transfer. He is a really good missionary, a little quiet but very focused so this should be a good transfer. Its a very different mission life here in the offices. We don't have lunch or dinner pensions and we get a ton of money and our church office is right next to papa johns burger king, fried chicken places, basically all we could ever want!So that's pretty nice, but I don't want to get fat so ill try to watch what I eat. Today has been pretty good, we played soccer in the morning, and today is mothers day here so we went to Hna Cabezas house and made breakfast which was awesome. In my day I don't do much to do with health, my most important job is the Baptism Records and that Salt Lake is registering all the baptisms we have every month. I feel kinda weird in here sometimes but the other missionaries are cool so its been fun so far. I'll probably be in here for a while, like 5 transfers or so, and so when I leave I'll have just 4 transfers or 6 months left. That's far away so well worry about that later. I'm doing good here, we should have 2 baptisms this Saturday so I'm excited for that. Tell all the family about the Saturday thing. I've got a bunch of pictures​

*This is this weeks email 

Bummer about the ducks but I would be kind of mad if they won the Stanley cup and I couldn't be there. Life here in the office is different, but I like it. We try to go to our area as soon as possible like around 3 in the afternoon, but sometimes they've got stuff going on here and we don't get to leave til 7 or 8. When there are transfers I do go to the airport and stuff but that's just every 6 weeks and they have cinnabon so that's a perk haha. Another perk is that we have no lunch or dinner pension so they just give me a ton of money and I eat whatever I want and we are right next to a plaza and a mall with a ton of American, Mexican, and Argentinian food. Its awesome but I don't want to get fat . One cool thing Ive seen this week is that the Lord knows that were stuck in here sometimes and so we don't have all day to find investigators and we had an activity last night and we had a super good family come to us and they live in our area so I'm really excited to go teach them. The Lord always provides if we are faithful and do our best. I haven't been reading my scriptures in order recently. My studies are usually focused on a subject and I use PMG and the scriptures, that's the way PMG says to study, but if I have extra time I try to read. I like reading the new testament a lot especially the book of Juan. Its been a good week it goes by fast cause I'm always busy. I'm glad to hear that the GGs took care of Cole on his birthday people have united since I have been gone. Cole sent me an email he seemed really happy. The mission gives such an interesting opportunity to miss somebody for a long time and the joy of seeing them again, there is not many things that are like that. Maybe it will be similar in the spirit world when we die and get to see everyone we haven't seen in so long but were all united again, interesting. I'm in the offices which is cool, 3 of the 6 of us are going home this transfer so there are talking about going home, it just seems unrealistic to think about that for me I feel like ill be a missionary my whole life haha. one day....haha. Crazy about Cole's animation teacher really sad, poor guy has had his whole life destroyed. I was in Los Angeles 1 now I'm in Los Angeles 2 so I just moved really close. I still get to see Elder Prince a lot and his new comp is a good buddy of mine from Colombia. My new companion is Elder Vallejo from Ecuador. his dad is the mission president in La Paz. He is a really good missionary and he is going home so were hoping to send him off with baptisms. Things are all good here and we might go bowling today so I'm pretty stoked for that. Here is a picture of me completing my job as health secretary bringing breakfast to the companion of the elder in the hospital 

Week of April 30th, 2017

I dont have a spanish accented voice but sometimes I make some pretty dumb grammar mistakes that are me translating spanish to english. Crazy that Talyon is going home, and Emily Baker already too. Zane almost has a year which is crazy. Things are going really well in our area right now. We have 9 people with a baptismal date and 8 of them are pretty sure baptisms, so Im hoping that may will be my most successful month of my mission so far. Were working hard here but I feel like ive got more to give so thats my goal this week. A 70 is visiting our mission this week so well have a big training conference with him. Elder Prince is doing good hes just in the I hate Spanish phase that we all go through, but he never complains which is good. We get a ton of help from the ward and the work is moving forward here and Im just glad to be a part of it. Im happy right now and Im looking forward to seeing you guys in 13 days which doesnt seem real until its happening. Are you guys having family home evening every week? Scripture and prayer? You gotta make sure the family is doing that. Have a good week dad dont get too bored and go Ducks!

Elder Nelson is behind the Mission President and member of the 70

Week of April 23, 2017

Happy Birthday Dad! You looking great for your age what are you talking about. I weighed myself this morning and I'm at a solid 180. Go ducks, I didn't know the Oilers were doing well, they sucked last year. This week has been really good for the missionary work. Some good days some long days, but we went to having basically no investigators to having 9 with baptismal date, 6 that went to stake conference, and 10 new investigators, so I'm really happy with where its going we have been really blessed. Its fine with Elder Prince he usually has no idea whats going on but I'm helping. Just a lot of comp study and with the 12 weeks program they have us use to train which is really good. He never really complains and just goes with the flow so that's nice. He just needs to practice more. I know exactly how he feels though its rough to start out. Our area is doing really well right now we have a lot of potential and the misery is always bearable when we have baptisms and success out here. Winter is approaching and its nice to be in some cool weather for the first time in a long time. I'm liking how I'm not sweating all the freaking day. I'm exciting for how this area is going to progress but i wont get too attached cause I always leave in 2 transfers lol. Sorry I'm a bit boring but I don't tell you guys about the dogs that try to bite me the drunks that follow us or the people that try to shoot at me hahaha jk about the last one, but the others are true. We played indoor soccer for the last pday and again today. I love all my soccer jerseys I have an addiction to buying them hahaha Have a great week, Dad happy birthday again. Talk to you soon 

Week of April 16, 2017

So I did get transferred, they put me on a plane and sent me back to Santa Cruz so I'm living the city life for the first time but I got to eat papa johns pizza so that was great. My new companion is from Jerom Idaho. His name is Elder Prince and hes pretty tall. He played tennis in high school so thats pretty cool. He is just kind of a normal guy, its the best way to describe him. Hes a little bit quiet and he doesn't know a whole lot of Spanish but hes learning fast and Ill do my best to help him get there. It reminds me of when I first got here and how frustrated I was all the time, poor guy. I'm also opening a new area, its called Los Angeles so that's kind of cool haha. I've never looked at a map and asked for help with directions so many times in my life, its kinda hard. The elders before us also didn't work in the area book so that really sucks cause were starting from ground zero basically. However we have received a ton of help from the Bishop and the ward mission leader which has been such a blessing. Exercise is rough to get motivated and do in the mornings, usually I just do push ups and sit ups in the morning. The missionary work is a little slow here but it will pick up this week and well try and get some good work in here. The people here have real houses so they are a little but more difficult to contact them, but well find some families to teach here.

Elder Nelson

Week of March 26, 2017

Ok so were teaching the Moreno family and we originally contacted their uncle and then they warmed up to us and started taking the lessons. They love going to church and have a baptismal date, but they need to get married and so we've been trying to sell hammocks to help them pay for their wedding. Yesterday they didn't attend church and we found out that the mom is sick and was in the hospital and probably spent all their money to pay for that so some stress with that because we gotta talk to the lawyer and pay tomorrow. I hope everything works out but we will see. Were working with some other families and were gonna try and put a baptismal date with them this week for the 8th and have 7 baptisms that day which would be incredible. Some stress but I'm gonna try my best, I hope I can stay here another transfer. I'm super excited for conference, and mothers day is coming up. I'm reading the BoM everyday and should finish the second week of April. I'm in Alma 54 right now. Have a good week love you. 

Elder Nelson

Week of March 19, 2017

I had a good week this week. I had three exchanges with other missionaries, which means we change companions and work in other areas. I got to work with E Vergara un chileno really cool. He has a twin serving in Peru and it reminded me of Jackson and Bennett. He was in a Chilean reggae band before the mission and we get along really well. I also went with E Ferierra the brasilero to some far away land that was an hour and a half walk in the middle of nowhere to teach a family that wasn't there, so we just walked back after that haha but it was fun, and super beautiful in the jungle and all the animals and everything, but I didn't have my camera so sorry. Our family that was supposed to be baptized this Saturday was cancelled but they put us in charge and we put their date for April. We are trying to find a lot of new people and were working hard I'm feeling good. The missionary work here is good were focusing on teaching the doctrine simply and more efficient contacts

 Elder Nelson

Week of March 12, 2017

My shoes are doing ok right now but Bolivia is taking its toll. Worst comes to worst I can take them to a shoe place and fix them to last until I hit a year. I hit 6 months today which is pretty crazy a quarter of my mission is over. I never feel isolated with the latinos, I can speak spanish haha. Im very excited to eat some hot cheetos!. To help pay for the wedding of our investigators Im buying a hammock from them thats gonna be designed with the united states flag so Im pretty excited for that. We had 2 baptisms this week and are trying for 7 on the 25th its gonna be a little stressful but I think we can pull it off with the Lords help. Things are good here, are you reading the BoM everyday? With the goal I have now ill read it like 11 times before I come back. I learn something everyday. Love you have a good week

Elder Nelson

Week of March 5, 2017

*Missionaries in Bolivia go on a three day lockdown during one of the festivals the country celebrates. Missionaries are given challenges by their Mission President for the weekend. This email came after the lockdown.*

It was kind of the opposite, after a 3 day vacation it was hard to not be lazy. I just read the BoM and played hearts with the other missionaries. It did make me want to read the book of mormon more. I finished it for the first time in spanish so thats 1 for the mission 3 times total. Right now I have to read the BoM every transfer, so every 6 weeks. Its just 15 pages a day so not a lot. Its hot here but its moving from summer to spring and then to winter. It rains here a ton, its basically a rain forest here. Cool for the mission call for Cade. Right now we have a super cool family. The dad was baptized a long time ago but the mom no. They have four kids and two can be baptized. Yesterday we taught about marriage and that they need to get married to be baptized and she said it made sense and that shell talk to the dad about it. They are super awesome and I really hope we can baptize them. Im very excited for my package! Things are good here and I hope its good at home. It can be pretty miserable to be sick sometimes but it makes me appreciate being healthy more. I will humbly accept all gifts when I return home, at the end of this transfer ill have 7 months! only 17 more! Also mothers day is coming up when I can call home, so thats great.
 

 Love and miss all of the family.

Elder Nelson

Week of February 19, 2017

Hey, so I had a pretty good week, but on Thursday I woke up in the middle of the night and I threw up and then I went out to our backyard and as I was standing out there I got super dizzy and then I remember hitting my butt and then my head. I had passed out and it was a miracle the way I fell too cause I should of hit my had on the sink outside to wash clothes but I was 5ft from that and about 2ft above concrete so it still hurt a lot but it was just dirt. I got a minor concussion and I had a fever and vomiting it was a pretty terrible combination so they took me to a clinic and put an IV in me to get my water and salt and sugar levels back to normal and after a few hours they let me go and gave me some medicine and said I probably have some sort of virus and to come back Monday and do an analysis of my blood. Also President Cabezas and Hna Cabezas came out to our zone did interviews and trainings but i was in the clinic or in bed so I couldn't go. On Saturday they came to our house and I got to talk to him for a while which was a great experience and Hna Cabezas had me talk to some other doctor on the phone and I ended up doing a blood analysis on Saturday instead and I got the result this morning and I don't have any virus like dengue or chikengunya or anything so probably was just a stomach infection combined with the minor concussion. anyway a whole bunch of crazy this week but I went to church on Sunday and today I feel better, just need to keep taking my medicine for a bit til I'm all recovered. I literally walked home in a rain storm the other day and was walking to my knees in water. It took days for all my clothes to dry. This Sunday we had 10 investigators in the church which is like crazy high. The missionary work here is great and we have 2 baptisms this Saturday and if i stay another transfer we will have a bunch next month hopefully. Hope everything is good at home love and miss you guys

Elder Nelson

Week of February 12, 2017

hoy dia tengo cinco meses en la mision super loco pero el tiempo vuela cuando estamos trabajando no? 

Its interesting because one of the hardest things for the people here to accept is the Book of Mormon. I think there a lot of pastors here that say we are evil and rich, they say the book is evil and it doesn't say Book of Mormon or Joseph smith anywhere in the bible. Its pretty frustrating sometimes and I just want to own them with scriptures, but they don't actually read the Bible for themselves and they just believe anything the pastor or their neighbor says. We find more success with people who are humble and willing to accept the idea to pray about it, and who don't just follow the people or the elect you can say. It says it will be a stumbling block for the weak and a stepping stone for the faithful. We just need to find the faithful. Hope all is well time is flying. 

Have a good week love you

Elder Nelson

Week of February 5, 2017

Wooh this was a hard week, and not cause we had any trials or anything but we worked hard! I was never so ready to go to bed my whole mission than I was this week. We did a ton of contacting and looking for new investigators, and getting to know the area. This week we had 18 new investigators. Which is pretty crazy and 9 of them had a baptism date but with the 3 attendances of church to meet the requirements of baptism this month and none of them were able to go to church so all baptism dates fell through. I think it was for the better though and we can really focus on preparing them for march and we might have 6 or 7 baptisms to make up for the 3 we didn't have this month which is the goal for every companionship every month. I'm feeling pretty good about the work here right now and I'm glad I was transferred here. The thing is I can get transferred the 1st of march and miss all these investigators but I don't feel like I'll get moved. But we never know so I just gotta do my best while I'm here. I loved the package thanks. I only talked to sister cook for like 5 seconds  but she remembered mom or was just being nice. I'm in a branch there is probably around 100 members and needs more priesthood its really cool to be apart of constructing the Lords kingdom from a very small branch. Have a good week love you!

Week of January 29, 2017

Alright I'm finally in my area! I got here yesterday afternoon. My companion is Elder Moreno he is from Honduras and he has just one transfer. So technically I'm training him. We get along well and were both focused on our what we wanna do here which is baptize converts and building the Lords Kingdom here in Bolivia. We're still getting to know each other but he is great from what Ive seen. We live in a house with 2 other Elders and our house is good it just needs to be cleaned...a lot. I was thinking how grossed out mom would be in the house with all the dead cockroaches and other stuff in here lol, but I'm working on cleaning it. I sent a picture with the shirt and the cookies which are amazing! Thanks so much! Elder Cook was great and his wife was awesome too. He said a lot of cool stuff but the best part was when he bore his testimony about the Savior. He said "I want to be more clear in my testimony especially with missionaries, I want to say that I know the Saviors voice, and I know the Saviors face." It was so cool! If you want to be inspired in home teaching read emissaries of the church by Elder Holland this past conference. We have a totally different schedule now. It is a lot more flexible and now we don't count lessons or any of that stuff everyday. Only baptisms, people with a baptism date, investigators that came to church and new investigators. We also have raised our goal of baptisms to 3 every month. I'm very happy here and excited to get to work in this area. Have a good week 

Love

Elder Nelson

Week of January 22, 2017

Yea a ton of things happened this week. So on Tuesday we got the transfer calls and I was certain that I was gonna stay and Urrutia was gonna leave. The zone leaders called us and said Elder Nelson your getting transferred, your going to guayaramerin, you'll be opening a new area, and you'll be training a new elder. I was shocked and I waited for like 10 seconds to tell me he was kidding. Guayara is in Beni and its the furthest away from the city that you can be in and its 10 minutes away from Brazil. Its in the Amazon jungle! When I heard that I started freaking out a bit cause its basically throwing a little kid in a pool and hoping he will teach himself how to swim. But the thing is Elder Cook is coming to our mission and all the missionaries from Beni are flying in for it. So I have been living with the zone leaders and helping the new elders in the area. We also had two baptisms this Saturday so I was pretty lucky I could stay for that and baptize one of them. Its been the weirdest week in my mission kinda floating around companions and areas and I'm anxious to get to my area and go to work. I haven't met my new companion yet he has 1 transfer or 6 weeks in Beni right now and ill finish his training. I wont meet him til like this Wednesday or Thursday. I have only heard good things about him though. Super crazy week but I'm chilling and trying to stay focused. Hope all is well at home things are good here. I have seen a lot of help with my spanish this week, and a lot more comfortable. Something interesting I studied this week was really how much the Lord loves us and how He wants us to succeed and be happy. Have a good week next email I'll be in the jungle.

Love

Elder Nelson

Week of January 15, 2017

Honestly the only thing I wish I would have done before I came here is maybe read the scriptures more and gone out with missionaries, not for my practice but because it sucks when you cant find a member to accompany you for a lesson. I feel like there are just things you need to learn by suffering and experience in the mission. President Hinckley is a legend I cant wait to get the Liahona for January and read the segment on him. I know Im lucky for where Im serving and the people here are a lot easier to teach. Something interesting I read this morning is Alma and Amulek and their first time teaching together and it basically is a battle of words between them and the Lawyers of the land, and the lawyers in the scriptures are always bad, but it doesnt deter me. They are about to contend with Zeezrom and its always exciting to read. Have a good week, Love and Pray for you guys everyday

Elder Nelson

Week of January 8, 2017

Things are going good here, always lots of spiritual experiences but what is always the best is when our investigators keep their commitments and read the book of mormon. Bolivia is an experience everyday lol its pretty wild. It was a good week, we have a lot of good families to teach and I keep having weird dreams in spanish. The goofy challenge is cursed or something dad, but it seems like you're content with the results. Dang I miss the family trips and spending all our money ha. Here in my district I have the reputation for being the cheapest one, I hope that makes you proud, and its not being stingy its making an efficient budget and keeping to it strictly. We have to give money back to the mission if we have extra but that NEVER happens. My goal is to give the most money back to the mission in the mission history. Its tithing money and its sacred :) I'm glad all went well with your run I prayed for you and the family the whole week. We get an hour or so to study the gospel everyday and its my favorite time of the day. For me when I have a great gospel study I have a great day. It takes an effort though to have good studies and be focused. I'm going to a church distribution store today to buy a quad because the scriptures the mtc gave me are garbage and I want nice ones. I haven't read the BoM all the way through yet because I switched to reading in spanish and its a lot slower, I'm only in Mosiah. Our missionary library is also limited so we can only read certain things and it doesn't include any church history books except for Our Heritage, but I'll have plenty of time to read a bunch of church books when I get home. The one thing I thought about this week is how disappointing it can be when our investigators don't read or pray or attend church and I thought about all the times I've disappointed you guys. I hope you guys can be proud of me that I'm out doing what I should be doing. This is my last week of my official training, it all goes by so fast, but I'll have another Monday before I know if I'm getting transferred or not. I hope I stay because we have a lot of families that are close to baptism and I wanna be here, but I'll go where I'm needed. 
 

Week of January 1, 2017

Sorry to took so long to post, I was on vacation!

The weather here is super weird. Its really hot and windy or its rainy and then hot its just a big mess but it sucks when its super hot. To me it seems like I barely know any spanish but to you guys its totally different. I cant believe Carrie Fisher died thats crazy! I finished Jesus The Christ yesterday super good book. I learned a lot about our Savior and more of what he did in his earthly ministry. I want to read all of Talmage´s books but I have to wait til after my mission to do that.  It was definitely a good week the best part about new years was that we had 6 investigators at church! Our goal is 5 baptisms this month so that should be great. We have this week and the week after in this transfer window. There are like 7 zones in the city and suburb areas and 3 zones in the jungle area. Im in a suburb area like 30 minutes from the city. Keep being awesome I pray for you and the family everyday!