29 May 17

Hey there everyone!

First I want to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my mom!!! Hope you had a great day!

So I was doing so well with not getting sick the past couple of months. Until the other day... I don’t know what hit me but it got me good. I don’t think it was the bugs because my comp had that as well and didn’t get sick. But I was in bed all day. But I believe that’s done with now so I think I’m all better.

 We keep finding some good people to teach here. We have these two investigators. They are brother and sister and they are super awesome. They both read everything they love coming to church. They always want to learn something new. They are our next baptisms here in this area. So those are the best ones that we have right now. The next ones we have aren’t very good. Well I mean yes they are good but they don’t want to commit to anything. When we came to this area they had passed there interview and they were all set to go. How they passed I don’t know. I think the missionary before just checked everything off to say they could be baptized. So before we were working with the husband to get baptized. Because before he didn’t know if he wanted to our not. But know it’s the wife. She wants to make sure it’s okay with her mom before she gets baptized. They lady is 38 years old and wants permission from her mom... People confuse me here sometimes. 

So we get a lot of weird people when we contact here in the mission. For example we were contacting the other day and this lady wouldn’t let me say anything. She said nope you don’t believe in Christ and you don’t teach the word of god and this and that. So I was just like whatever and went to the next house. Well this is where it gets funny. My comp and I knocked the door and this lady told us that her pastor said that she couldn’t listen to anyone else. So my comp said well remember we have agency here in life from god and the person that doesn’t want us to have that is the devil. So really your pastor isn’t from god he’s really from the devil. When he said that I almost laughed. Because the lady was shocked she didn’t know what to say hahah. So we put a visit with here next week and we will see what will happen.

So I love all my comps right. Well Elder Juarez not so much. But you get the point. Anyways things have been going really good with this comp. Until the other day. I’ve noticed something about him. He’s a great guy don’t get me wrong. He just like everything to be his way. To be honest I’m surprised he even has a little bit of patient. But I’ll give it to him. I think he’s ready to go home. He has 17 days left here in the mission and who wouldn’t be ready to go home right.   I’ll just hold out with this and let things just go his way for a while. But things here don’t really change in Pueblo. Like I said we have 3 streets and about 300 people live here. It’s a really nice area because everyone knows everyone. The only problem is that there are the same people that we always talk to. But hey maybe one day they will change and come to church!

So once you start to get a little bit of time in the mission you get more and more tired everyday hahah so to tell you all something about Guatemala is that they always have to get wood to cook tortillas. So we decided to help a member get some wood today. But remember this as well. Here in my area it’s all on big mountains. So we had to go down on the side of the mountain to find some wood. We walked for 20 mins until we found a spot. Now we don’t have machines or anything. All we have is a machete’s. So we had one to use between the three of us. And after to bring it back we put it in some packs and hiked back out. And those thing weighed a tone!! It was sooooo hard. 

So we have this one recent convert that is really awesome. Her husband, not so much. The thing that I have noticed here in the mission is that guys outside the cap are really awful people. And the guys who are members are really really weird haha. So anyways every time we go to visit the recent convert her husband and she always have a new problem. So before we can teach a lesson they always tell us what’s going on in their life. And they don’t shut up about it. they just go on and on about it all. We keep trying to tell her to leave him and I think she’s getting close. But she is really good with listening to the lessons we have for her as well really trying to make it out to church every Sunday. It’s just really hard with her husband. 

So I’ve said it before and I’ll say it 100 times again. Our area is super small. It’s so small we don’t have anywhere to contact anymore. We are just going to the same houses. And it really sucks. Going to talk to the same people that slam the door in your face. Or make up lies to not listen or the kids that lie. Here is a funny story about one house. We went up to knock the door and we heard the mom. Then she sent her son to come to the door. And what does this kid say… My mom isn’t home. So being the smart man I am I said, and the lady talking right now?  So the kids paused for a second and then said ummmm she’s busy. And parents ask why there kids lie all the time. 

Well this has been along week. A lot has changed and a lot hasn’t haha but that’s missionary life. We will see how next week goes and maybe we can find more and more people. Thanks for all your love and support!

Love Elder Nelson

22 May 2017

So we have a small town were we work. But everything else here is soooo far away.

So we have been teaching this brother and sister that are really interested in the church. We were only able to talk to the brother the other day and not the sister. But after searching we finally got to teach her. When we asked if she wanted to get baptized she said yes without any questions asked. This should be kind of easy with these two because they went to church for 2 months before we talked to them. Yeah this area has its days where it’s up and days when it’s down but we just need to keep looking.

So like I said our area is small but really spaced out. The other day we seen this one area on the map that we have for Pueblo. So we went out for a walk to see what we could find. As we were walking on the path that never seemed to end. A man came up to us and said that he wanted us to come visit him and his family. He told us that his uncle is a member and all that. So we were like why not. So we started walking and talking. But the walk started to get longer and longer. When we finally got to his house it was the last one on the path. How long did it take us you ask….Well we were walking for 30 mins beforehand and then we walked for an hour to find this guy’s house.  But we used that hour very well. We taught all of lesson one with the guy. So when we got to the house we just gave a quick lesson to his wife and left. But this area was really scary after 5. We left at 5:30 and we got back to Pueblo at 5:55. We ran pretty much the whole way hahah the good thing is that it wasn´t raining. 

So the other day I got my package as well! And I would like to thank the Salmons because they sent Reese pieces for me. I think that they have great hearing or something because I said to my comp the other day that I could really go for some Reese pieces. And I got some haha as well I would like to thank everyone for all the letters I got as well. From the young mens group and a bunch of my friends. When I got the hockey cards in my package, my comp had all kinds of questions for me. He told me after I think I’m going to start watching hockey when I get back. But yes all in all thanks to all who put things in my package. 

Now this is going to be a bad part to read if you have a weak stomach. So if you do please stop reading now. 

So here in Guatemala almost every month they have a special thing to eat during the month. And this month is crazy... The thing they eat is like this big ant. That’s right an ant!! So I got the chance to try one of these ants on Sunday. That’s right I ate a bug on the mission. And to be honest it wasn´t that bad. You just need to cook it up and put some lime on it and your set. When the member was making it for us I could only think of the old TV show fear factor. And how they had to eat all the crazy things on that show.

So that was my crazy week here in the mission. Once again thanks for the package and thank you all who sent something! We will talk to you all next week! Love you all 

Elder Nelson

....So I asked Jordan to do some pictures with his name tag.  He really didn't want to do it but he did....I just love them

15 May 2017

So I’m not going to lie this is going to be a short email. Because it I didn’t write at all this week... But to be honest the area hasn’t changed. We had to drop a lot of people this week. We are pretty much hitting the rest button on everything this week. We are going to go and work with this one girl that read the book of Mormon in a week. We didn’t contact her, her name was in the area book. But we couldn’t understand why she wasn’t baptized. So we found out that she needs to get married. And her husband didn’t want anything to do with the church or marriage the last time the missionary’s talked to them. So we talked to here and the husband wants to get married now I guess. So we are going to work with them both and see what we can do. We had our member bring some people to church the other day. And they are awesome. The only thing is they live 45 mins away. They live in our area but they just live super far away. But we are going to talk with the branch president and see if we can’t go with him in his car one day because there are no buses that go out there. The area here is really good for teaching people. They just have a hard time coming to church and reading. And basically everything else as well haha but if they were all go with stuff like that our lives would be way too easy and missionary work isn’t supposed to be easy haha.

So the power goes out here lot, and we have a rule that if the power is out at night when we are out working we have to go back to the house because it’s not safe. So this happened to us the other day. We went and bought some candles and some food for the house and all that. We came home and just as we put the key into the door the power came back on... It’s good because we got to work again. We were really scared for the skype call with the power always going out. We were praying so hard that the power would stay on all night. And we had power the whole night as well! Oh I almost forgot, when we were skyping the room we were in was filling up with water... It rains cats and dogs all the time here. I hate the rain as much as I hate the snow back home. Haha 

 Well I to be honest that was our week here in Pueblo Nuevo. I’m sorry that it’s so short but at least it’s something haha. I will write more for you all next week I promise haha anyways thanks for all the love and support that you all send my way! 

Talk to you all next week! Love you!

Elder Nelson 

Where they had lunch last pday

What they looked like when they talked to us on Sunday

Rain rain rain

08 May 2017

So yes we had changes. And yes I’m back outside the cap in the biggest zone in the whole mission. We have to take a bus for an hour and a half just to go for district meetings... it sucks. The area that we are in is in the middle of nowhere. As well we are on the side of a mountain so everything is on a hill.  But I really do like this area. Being back outside the cap is really awesome. Because everyone lets us in to teach. I went up and knocked a door and the guy told us to come in before I said anything about our church. People always like to hear from us. My comp here is really crazy. Good old boy from Idaho. Like I said he was my first zone leader in Catocha so we already knew each other. We work really well together as well. Funny thing about this is that he ends this change. So he gets to be with the best Canadian in the mission haha. 

So here in the area we reopened it. Which means we both came in here as new missionaries in the area. We didn’t know a thing or a person. And let me tell you it was really hard when the area book had nothing in it. But we have this one family that wants to be baptized but the husband hast gotten an answer yet. The wife wants to be baptized and everything else. We just have to wait for the husband. We have been finding a lot of people that listen to the missionaries before and all that but never got baptized. So we are going to go and work with what we have and see if we can’t help these people.

So we had interviews the other day here in the area with president Caffaro. The thing is for me is I just remembered that this is the last interview I will have with President Caffaro. The reason why is that we are going to get a new president here in June. It’s really exciting to see that but was well it’s very sad to see President Caffaro go. So when we were in the interviews we had one with Sister Caffaro. And before we start she always asks me how I’m doing. All the time. Hey elder nelson how are you doing how are you feeling? She asked me about my comps and she told me, now Elder Nelson I know you have had some bad ones. And we know that it’s been hard for you. She basically told me what my mom and dad always said, we know more then you know. It’s good to know that president is here for us no matter what. So I always bug president about Utah being better then BYU. Because he worked with BYU for many years with the football teams there. So after the interview president said, Hey go Oilers. I guess it’s okay if he can pick on me haha

So our Sundays here are really nice. They have a new church building here that was just finished a month ago. We also go to church with the dentist and his wife. I thought they were just more missionaries like the Oylers. But it’s the dentist haha. So they pulled into the parking lot and they told us who they are and where they are from and all of that. Then they asked if we needed anything like peanut butter or anything like that. And let me tell you that was like my prayers have been answered and I could finally buy some peanut butter. They told us that if we ever needed anything just ask. Then after like always in the mission here we got some chocolate. It was kind of weird getting candy from a dentist. So let’s talk about the area a bit here.  So it’s the rainy season here in Guatemala. So the thing is it won’t rain in the morning but when it hits like 2 or 2:30. It rains cats and dogs. But the thing is it will only rain hard for 5 min then stop for 10. Then rain again for 5 mins then stop. It’s crazy. We were out finding a house on Sunday around 7. And to get to this house it’s all downhill. But all mud as well. So we were standing in front of this house and my comps goes, this is pretty crazy. We are on the side of a mountain in the pouring rain and then it’s super dark as well. And right as he said that the power went out... And let me tell you that is one scary walk back home when there is no light in the street and all you are thinking is this is where I get robbed. The thing that sucks when the power goes out here we have to go back to the house because we can’t be in streets without light and we can’t knock doors without lights.

I know this is small but I’ll be talking to you guys here in one week. So thanks for all that you do and thanks for all the love and support!

Love Elder Nelson

01 May 2017

So we let me tell you something right away. I hate the rain as much as i hate the snow. On monday we were walking down the road in water that came past our ankles. And it comes do super hard here in guatemala. As well in may its when it rains the most here. So bring it on! As for everything else nothing else big happened during pday. We play soccor or basketball everyday. we write to our family. Then come home and visit some members. hopefully more fun things will happen this week.

So we have this one kid that is getting ready for a mission. So as missionarys we kinda help him to see how we work and help me see how its done. Because im the best teacher in the world. haha so anyways im pretty sure he hates us somedays haha. Everytime we work close to his house we always ask him to come with us to visit people. He is always like, Man i dont want to go visit people. I wanna sleep haha. But after we have a couple of visits he gets into the mode of it. We found this one guy that was really weird. not weird like crazy but just how it happened. We were contacting one street and we came to the end of the street and the guy said come in before i go say anything. He talked to us and said that his daughter has just got back from her mission and all that. Turns out that shes a member in a differnt ward but no one else in the family are members. Turns out as well he worked in canada for some time. We asked him if he has ever gone to church and if he would like to. He said yes as well he accepted the fecha for a baptism. So there a lesson to learn from this. This house was the last one in the street. We had enough contacts for the day. We could have left but we gave it tell the end. if we didnt do that then he probably wouldnt know were the church is. So when you think that you have done enough and think your done. Remember to give it that extra 10% to do more then you need to do. 

So our area is really awesome now with members and working with them. For example, we work in to sectors. One area is close to our house. And the other is down low where its really big. So when we work down low we have the one kid that works with us that i talked about before here. And now we have another kid that is getting ready for a mission. He told us the other day, Elders when ever you need me just call me. im really happy with how we can work with the members and have them be our friends as well. So we got 3 new investigators with the one kid that works with us down low. This lady cleans his house for the family so we asked one day if it was okay if we shared a message. We shared it with her kids as well. They all seemed to like it and we put a fecha with them. Our area is really really good to work with members. The members are really awesome here to be honest. We have one family that we reactivated and they are really awesome. Its a family of four, and one day they asked hey elders since when are you guys not aloud to watch movies_ And we told them that its been a rule forever. They then told us some missionarys here about 4 years ago or when ever the hunger games came out. they watched the second hunger games together in the house. We told them that we would love to watch a movie with them. But we cant. And it sucks, they always have the new star wars movie sitting on the table. This is some bad temptation for me ill be honest. As well they always bug my comp about the movies he likes as well haha but they are a really good family.

So I have to be honest I hate when  things fall through. We were working up here by the house and let me tell you people were really busy or they are really good liars. For example we went up to one house and it was about 5 o{clock in the afternoon. We went up and knocked the door. A man answered and said hey we are just eating lunch, can you come back in an hour so we did and they werent home. it sucks when that happens. But then you just look past that and look to who really wants to listen to you. We have this one investigator thats just awesome. She reads everything that we give her. She wants to come to church all the time. as well she wants her kids to be baptized as well. The only thing is that her husband doesnt want to get married. And if they dont get married then she cant get baptized. But we will keep working with them to help with. We always have to show love to those we teach. We cant just act like a lifeless robot that knows all the points to the lessons. Dont get me wrong its good to know what you teach. But you need to love them and know what they need to learn as well. 

So on the other day in church people were asking when the changes are. Now before i go on i just want to say something about this mission. Its pretty much exactly like hockey. For example. When you coming into the mission and recive your comp, Its pretty much like the nhl draft. You dont know when your name is gonna get called or who you are gonna work with. then when the changes come its like the trade deadline. Where you wait to recive a call to see if you are gonna go to a different city. So thats how i was feeling sunday night. But anyways all the members said, Hey elder are you gone_ Is your comp gone_ When will you find out__ It was really bad too because the APs sent a message out to all the missionarys saying that they cant talk about the changes. So i didnt say anything to the members about the changes. But anyways about the day in sunday. So we need 6 lessons with a member to get our goal of 20 for a week. So we did what we knew was best. Have divitions with members. So i went with a member and his kid and we went to teach some of our new investigators. As well it was awesome because he has a car so we didnt have to walk that much. So i was pretty happy. And it was funny because the member that my comp went with didnt have a car. The other good thing is that we were able to get 6 lessons as well. It was really good for a sunday. After we went to the family flores house again. It was good because it was the birthday of brother flores. it was a little weird because i thought that we would sing in spanish. But they said happy birthday in english. Pretty crazy. But the cake was really good. 

Now im writing this on the alphasmart at 9Ñ55pm. And we are sitting here waiting for the call about the changes. And let me tell you i hate waiting for along time! hahah 

So its  gonna be a sad pday... Thats right im moving to a new area. And guess what, its back outside the cap.. In one of the hottest zones as well! Dont get me wrong im happy im going back out of the cap because its way better to teach people. As well they got the most baptisms last month so thats also a good thing. The thing is my comp is from the states. his name is elder stephen from idaho. He was my first zone leader back in catocha. I think president just wants me to go work with everyone from my first zone. this is now 2 comps that i have knew before we were comps.

So thanks for everything that you guys do for me. Thanks for all the love and support! be good!


Love Elder Nelson

A family Jordan was teaching....Family Chinch