Well lets say I had a good learning week, it was very long and rough. We only taught 5 lessons in the whole week and that means a lot of walking around. I didnt get to do anything for my birthday a member was supposed to bring us pizza but he couldnt and we didnt teach any lessons so it was rough. That night I woke up because my stomach felt weird and went and threw up and i was able to go back to sleep thank goodness but the next day I threw up 3 times and had a fever that night. I took like 4 medications from the whack bolivia pharmacy. Stayed in the house all day but i was able to watch meet the mormons that night on a little tv so that was nice. I get a little better every day and today i feel fine but it was just a rough week. Dont get me wrong im happy to be here and getting sick sometimes is somthing all missionaries go through. Im excited to work hard this week, Im starting to understand the scriptures in spanish so that helps my study a lot and we a have a baptism service this weekend so that should be good. love you mama

Love

Elder Nelson

Bolivian TV Shows

Hello everyone! Ill make up for last week with a better email and some pictures.



This past week was really great! Wednesday was definitely our best day. All of our appointments fell through and so we went and contacted around the area and we taught 3 families in a row in the middle of the day which is like super rare and in our second lessons with them they told us that on Wednesdays they are usually never home! Only 2 of the families seem to have interest but thats still really good I think and in our first lesson with them they said they would be baptized if they received and answer to their prayers. With most of our new investigators their concerns always seem to be how can we know which church is true when there are so many? I just eat that up. I love it cause it leads right in to the restoration and Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. For me its just so simple and clear.



Only one of our two baptisms happened this week. There are certain requirements to be baptized and our other investigator the 11 year old from the part member family couldn't meet with us like 3 times in a row and so we couldn't have him do his interview to be baptized and we pushed his date back another 2 weeks, the last week of the transfer window. Our other investigator Celedonio is 20 and lives on the second floor of our house so it was only a matter of time til he was baptized. He is super awesome and loves the scriptures and always does the commitments we give him. His service was really great and Elder Urrutia baptized him which was awesome, because it was his first baptism he did himself in his mission.



Thursday I had an exchange with the zone leader. It was nice to be with a gringo for a day and it was fun. He is very interesting, he is a great missionary, but he also loves to watch the bolivian tv show calle siete while we ate dinner! It was a good exchange, I went to his area and we had a lesson with one of his investigators and he committed to baptism. After that we were walking around and it was super windy like felt like hurricane winds, but while we were walking there was a menos activo family who was replacing the mud on their floor and so we helped them because they were pretty old and it was hard work and we filled their whole floor and them answered the fathers questions about the second coming and he was really scared  so we comforted him and told him he had nothing to worry about and just needs to keep the commandments and he wont have to worry really tender moment for me with this family and how great the promises of the heaven must sound to these people who have nothing, and are happy. It was a good exchange but i'm glad Elder Urrutia is my companion hes a great trainer. Overall really good week for the missionary labor in Satelite and im happy to be here, i hope i get to stay in this area a while.

Spanish and Sheep

This week was super fast and nothing crazy happened. The spanish is coming along but i have 5 minutes to write this email haha. We have two baptisms this week for which im super stoked! Just another weeks worth of missionary work here we found some new investigators that seem promising but a lot of lessons and appointments fall through but thats just the nature of missionary work. The language is coming very slowly but im glad i still have like 8 or 9 weeks of training. I heard we have a new king and not a queen in the united states, it was the all the talk of Bolivia this week, or really the talk that I could understand haha. I have no time so heres a picture of me finding the Lords lost sheep the great missionary work.

Power of Prayer

 Hola familia 
 This week was super long and tough. Having to have a man with us to teach 
families in the afternoon is basically impossible. We had a lot of appts fall 
through and it was super hot. On Saturday at lunch I was thinking wow this 
really sucks and I want to go home, I have so much time left, I'm gonna be here 
for an eternity. After lunch we started a fast and I just was begging Heavenly 
Father to help me change my attitude and focus on being here and also to help me 
with my spanish, because it is really frustrating not being able to understand 
people. 

That afternoon it was super hot we didnt teach anybody we just walked around, 
and we were fasting, but my prayer was being answered. I didnt feel bad that we 
werent teaching anyone or how thinking about how hot it was,I was just happy. 
Right around 4 we went to visit a family thats never been home and before we got 
there I just said a prayer please let them be home. They were home! We read a 
chapter of the book of mormon with them, but it was a fight to stay awake to be 
honest lol. 
 Anyways it was just a big turn around moment for me and a testimony builder. 

Right now we have 5 baptisms scheduled for this month which Im super stoked for. 

They are all great investigators. So I cant wait to send pictures. Our lunch 
pensanista is super good and I havent eaten anything here that I didnt like, 
except for milk with rice in it and corn is kinda nasty lol but that was with 
someone else. Spanish is coming along slowly. My goal is to finish the BoM in 
spanish by christmas. Exciting to think ill call home pretty soon :D. 
 
 Overall things are pretty good down here, very calm friendly and generally 
receptive to the gospel. There are no gangs or anything kinda interesting, the 
elders are the baddest guys around here lol every once and while we see some JWs 
but theyre to scared to try and bible bash with the Lords Fold. 

Love 
Elder Nelson 
 
The ducks here are like super ugly hahaha like straight descendents of the 
dinosaurs

Happy Halloween!

Im in some janky internet cafe writing this so bare with me. I guess its almost been 2 weeks of craziness out here in the big b. I dont even know where to begin so much has happened. 

The flights to get here sucked, we flew from mexico to peru and peru to bolivia. I thought that 6 and 4 hour flights would be fine but it is a long time when you cant do anything but look at the seat in front of you and sit there and sweat uncomfortably close to people. I got to Bolivia at 4am and sat in a customs line for an hour and a half then finally met my Mis Pres and my APs. We took a short drive to a mission home and we all got to sleep thank gosh. We woke up around 11 and went to get lunch with the Mission president and the office elders in the presidents house. Ive been a little worried about the food here but everything ive eaten so far has been great. Lot of meat and a lot of Rice haha. Oh and ive also never aprreciated Coke so much in my life. 

My trainers name is elder urrutia the biggest latino that ever was haha. He is from chile and he is the only latino to ever be bigger than me haha, but hes just a big teddy bear and I think president cabezas sent you a photo of us. I didnt bring my cord to send photos today but ive got a bunch. He is a good trainer and his english is better than most here which isnt saying much but he knows enough english and i know enough spanish to get by.

So this place is pretty poor but nothing like the horror stories I heard, Im in the outer part of the city so its a mix of poor and fine in my area. But we dont have an actual chapel we have an abandoned open roofed hotel and we went to clean it for a baptismal service and oh my heck was it nasty but I put 2 hours into that thing and made it somewhat decent. It will be a lot easier to clean it for our baptisms speaking of which, we have got 2 dates!

My first lesson was with the guy on or second floor, and he said he wanted to be baptized before we even started! He had recieved some lessons from urrutia and his previous comp, but my first real baptismal date was with a kid named gary whose mom is a member but thats it, and he came to church on sunday and we taught him lesson 2 after church and I invited him to be baptized and he said yes! It was a great experience. We also invited 2 others to be baptized that said yes but one isnt married and the others are going out of town and dont know when theyll be back. 

Church was ok, I introduced myself to the ward but that was about it, the ward is great but I can barely understand them. In the church meetings it was really frustrating cause i didnt understand anything. 

A lot of things can be frustrating here especially the language but a good lesson makes it all worth it. Helping real people with their lives is what this work is about and the spanish will just be a matter of time and work. Once I have that down ill enjoy myself a lot more here, but I love it here already so I just cant wait :)

Love

Elder Nelson

New P-Day!

Elder Nelson arrived safely in Bolivia Tuesday morning (4:15am!) His new P-Day will be Mondays!

5 Days til Bolivia!

Yo! Im writing a little later today because I had a bunch of stuff to get done today. I weighed in all my bags and im good to go! I leave monday and my flight leaves at 430pm here time. I should have some time to call home in the airport! So just be waiting for me from around 12 to 3 your time! 

This week has been pretty good just trying to learn this language. I was able to sit a lunch with someone from Bolivia which was really good for me. People there he told me speak really fast and with their accent a lot of the S´s are like J´s which is basically silent hahaha which is horrible when your trying to understand what their saying being new to the language, but he told me my spanish was really good and my accent wasnt like a white person haha. I was able to ask him a bunch of questions about santa cruz cause thats where he is from. He said its all mostly flat, and not mountainous like the west side of Bolivia. So I think its gonna be more jungely. He also said that Santa Cruz is nicer than the rest of the country and the girls are prettier haha. I asked him if they play tennis there and he said only the rich people play tennis. So im hoping for some members that play. 

Thanks for the packages they are always sweet to get and rub in the face of my district haha dont worry I always share. It was also nice to get that letter too so thanks fam. Everyday here blurs together with our schedules like they are. Our new district in our zone discovered the mighty cage and we have been able to dominate them in the mighty sport of futbal rapido haha. Hopefully the Ducks will be blessed for my missionary service and they will be able to go on a good streak and sign Hampus haha.

My district is the best district here. We all are good friends and get along super well. Theres one guy in here that has been my Zane away from home and hes been a big blessing in my life here. Hes elder curtis. He just makes me laugh a bunch and our district calls us the duo haha. He just keeps me sane haha

I guess from my emails it may sound like all I do is mess around here haha, but thats just because I dont talk about the 12 hours of boring studying I do cause no one wants to here about that haha, but believe it or not I do actually work here haha. My teachers here are the best ill send the pictures of us when I get to Bolivia, speaking of which 4 DAYS BOOOOY, so stoked to get wrecked haha. I just hope I can communicate with my mission president haha. 

Im looking forward to calling home talk to you guys soon

Love

Elder Nelson

​Elder Curtis and I 

Also my lit poem make sure to post that on the blog