14 August 17

Well it’s another week here in the mission done. We had kind of a rough week. So we work in this one area that has been closed since January. It’s been kind of dead and it’s been really hard to get things jumped started again in that area but I believe that we can help them little by little. I’m just not a big fan when I asked members to help us and they tell me if I bring this elder they will come and work with us. It really makes me mad when I see that and hear that. One kid told me that, and I said I wasn’t able to do that and he said yes you can your district leader and you can what ever you want. It kind of got to me but whatever. So the thing is the area kind of sucks. Reason why it was so hard this week is because we had a bunch of visits during the week in this area. For example we could have had an easy 25 lessons with a member this week but everything fell through. But when you have one area that falls down like that you just walk across the street to the other area and start working. We have a baptism this weekend on Saturday. The area Santa Marta has a lot of people ready to help the elders and work with them to. I’m really happy to see the people that we have that are getting ready to be baptized here. All the areas that I have had before had nothing when I went into them but now we have a lot to work with. Its really nice it keeps us busy. 

So we had interviews with the president this last week. And as always we have a meeting with his wife as well. So Sister Shumway doesn’t speak Spanish so when she had an interview with two Spanish speaking missionaries I was asked to translate for her. I never would have thought that my Spanish would be good enough to translate for someone. So in my interview with president we talked about how I do with the rules here in the mission. And as we all know that I follow the rules to the point after what happened with my first comp. I told him everything and he was very happy to see what I do to be obedient. He told me as well how he likes how honest I am. I think that all missionaries need to be honest to everyone. But the person you need to be most honest with is your president. All in all it was a good interview. Funny thing though, So my hair has gotten a bit to long on top. And as I was walking out of the interview president said, Elder Nelson one more thing. Your hair... I think it’s getting a little bit too long. The thing about President Shumway is he is kind of easy going. Very spiritual and a great guy but he is able to joke around with us as well. 

So everyone has probably been wondering if I have been robbed in the mission. Well it almost happened the other day. Before I go on I just want you all to know that this is a funny story. So we were in divisions and I was with a new missionary in his area. As we were walking down the road a drunk guy came up to us and said hey give me your watch. We both turned and said NO. Well this drunk said, well then give me your pen. Once again we said no. So the drunk then said, Okay I’m sorry I bugged you two please don’t get mad at me. It was one of the weirdest things that happened to me here in the mission but one of the funniest as well haha

So president and Sister Shumway changed the hours for our studies. We now have to plan for the investigator, what will we teach them, what is the invitation we will give them and what are the blessings you can receive. Now let me tell you this is one awesome way to plan. It works so much better when you teach as well it really helps you be prepared for the lesson. I have noticed that we can now teach with a lot more power and a lot more mean behind it for that person. 

So the week was up and down. It always happens here in the mission. When I seen my dates Sunday night I seen that we had some really good numbers with pretty much everything. But sometimes you feel like you could have done more. But that’s the thing now we know what we can do. And what we need to do. We are always learning how we can be better and how we can help more people. That’s the life of a missionary here in Guatemala

Thanks for everything you all do for me it really means a lot to know that I have so many people back home supporting me. You are all the best. Thanks for all the love and support!

Elder Nelson 

07 August 2017

So remember when I said I would write more last week?  Well I’ll be honest I didn’t write anything this week. It was one crazy week here in the district. But some good things as well happened this week. So like I said we have these two areas here in Santa Marta and Florida. And my comp before hasn’t really worked in the Florida. So I had divisions with one missionary that was in that area sometime ago. He is a member of my district and he showed me some people that he taught as well as some members. It should really help us with working in that area. We went and seen one kid named Axel who is pretty much a missionary.  He is 16 years old and when we went to talk to him he had 5 references to meet with us. But that’s not all… this kid brings his friends to activities, to church on Sunday, and even seminary! We are going to see what we can do this week with that kid to help his friends come in the church. In that area a well we have a member who is this very sweet old lady. She calls all the elders her kids. And she really does take care of them for example, She always gives us something to eat, she always asks how we are doing, she is pretty much our mom in that area. 

So our other area here has a bunch of investigators. We have the most progressing right now in the district, which is really good. We are helping the people little by little with everything that they need. We are going to be baptizing here soon in the coming weeks.

Not going to lie this last week was kind of hard. We couldn’t get into any house we couldn’t teach anyone it seemed like. I’ll give you and example, we went into a house where we have an investigator and he was like yeah come in and I’ll be right there. Well 30 seconds after he comes back and says hey guys can you come back a different day?  I was not to happy. To be 100% I was lacking motivation this week. It was really hard not be like hey lets do this or let’s do that lets go visit this person. But to be honest I didn’t know what to do. It was really hard. The past couple of days I have been really praying and really asking for help to be a better missionary and a better leader. Now I’m not saying I think I’m a terrible missionary I just now that I can improve to be better. But something helped me the other day. The new missionary that is in my district told me, hey man you are a great leader and that I’m doing a good job. He told me I’m really helping him here in the mission. So funny story about this elder. I can pick what days I want to do divisions and I told this elder that he was going to leader his area with my comp to see how he does. Now remember the kid has 2 weeks here in the mission so he was really scared. But he told me that it helped him get more confidence and understand his area better. So I know it may seem mean that I did that but hey it had it’s meaning to help the elder in my district 

So we went to the temple the other day as a zone. It was a good day to be honest. I was able to enjoy my time there and my mind wasn’t worried about anything. It was a nice relaxing time. But man was the temple busy after we came out. There as someone getting married, there came in a group of 30 people that entered the temple as we left. And we ran into an ex missionary there. This elder is from Guatemala and was probably the most famous here in the mission the reason why is he baptized 54 people. Crazy right?  And he is my grandpa in the mission. The reason why is he trained my trainer. So that means he’s my grandpa. 

We had two days back to back where we had to get up early. One was for the temple and the other was for a multi zone conference. This multi zone was really good to be honest. Well to be honest it felt the same when the aps talked.  I don’t like how the mission is focused on numbers. They focus too much on reaching a goal and not helping others. That’s why the retention of the new members is down because people just baptize numbers. Something that was really good was the talk from Sister Shumway. She talked about how we can help the people with the doctrine of the church. Then she taught the invitation for that person. I thought that was really good. Afterwards we got to hear from President Shumway. And when a new president comes into the mission he changes something’s around right… Now I thought that we would have to wait to see some changes but fetch he changed everything right away. Well not everything but a lot of stuff. For example before we had comp study for half an hour now he changed that to be an hour. As well we have a time now to study Spanish and for the Latino missionaries to speak English. A lot of missionaries were like what the fetch. But to be 100% honest I like having an hour to have a comp study. It will help us be better prepared for our investigators. 

So that was pretty much my week here in Santa Marta and Florida. We are working hard and helping people. My comp is really new. I’m his second comp that he has had in the mission. He is from Chile and he’s really old, he is 25 years old. Kind of weird being in charge of a 25 year old hahah but its good he is a good guy. But that was our week. I’m not going to say I’ll try and write more next week because it might not happen but ill do my best. Thanks for all the love and support you have for me here in Guatemala. Thanks for all the prayers as well.  Talk to you all next week!

Love you

Elder Nelson

Jordan with his district at the temple

Jordan with his zone at the temple

31 July 2017

So this district leader thing really sucks. I have to call a bunch of people I have to see how they are doing and all that. And if you have sisters in your district you cant get mad at them if they don’t work. Well I mean you can but if you do then they don’t want to work. So its really hard but it needs to get done.

So I’m new to this leader thing right…so the other day we had a meeting with just the new district leaders. And they taught us how to do a baptism interview, why we need to call everyone at night and all that. It was really good to be honest. Just a funny story, the second day that I became a district leader I had to give a baptism interview. Yeah 2 days and I had to interview someone. I was really happy that another missionary was there to help me before haha it was really cool though to do an interview. You can really see how well prepared the investigator is. 

So, about the area. We work in area that is kind of small. But we don’t just have our area. Remember how there aren’t a lot of people coming into the mission.  Well a lot of missionaries are now working in two areas. And guess what, we work in two areas... I be honest I kind of like it. It gives us two wards and two ward mission leaders. Two of everything. But I feel like it will be hard to work. 

So lets see what’s happening, Two area, in the city, and I’m a district leader. So there’s a lot to look at right now haha 

I have a new missionary here in my district and he is a really cool guy. He told me the other night that he is always happy to talk to me because I help them and always have something good to tell them. It really helped me know that I’m helping not just my investigators but as well members of my district. I was really scared to be a leader but I think I’m doing okay haha 

I know I didn’t write a lot this week. Pretty much nothing… But this coming week I think I’ll be able to write some more for you all. Just know that this district leader thing means I stay up and call everyone. Its not, OH how cool you are a leader in the mission. In reality its, Hey tell me about your day. The only thing is you have to keep motivating your district so they will work. That’s where the leader part comes in to it.

I want to read a part of a talk from 1980 where they talk about leaders in the mission. It reads, the leader himself, when directing, does not have to be bombastic and loud. Those who are called to lead in the ministry of the master are not called to be chiefs or dictators. They are called to be good shepherds. They are to be constantly training others to take their place and become great leaders than their teachers. A good leader expects much, inspires great, and sets on fire those he is called to lead. A leader must be a good listener. He must be willing to take counsel. He must show a genuine concern and love for those under his stewardship.

The leader has a lot to do to help everyone he knows. In the mission you worry about helping your investigators and help them progress. Now I need to help not only my investigators but as well my district and their investigators. We as leaders have to show love always and always help everyone when they need it. I never thought in my mission I would be a district leader. I never thought my Spanish would be good enough to speak to someone about there day and if they need help. But I guess  the time is now to see how well I know Spanish ahah

I promise I’ll write some more next week. Tell you all some stories and tell you all about what I have been up. But as always thanks for the love and support and all the prayers!

Talk to you all next week! 

Love ya!

Elder Nelson

Jordan with Elder Bair

24 July 2017

Hello Canada!!

So we had a really awesome day on Wednesday, We were able to do splits with some members and we met a lot of new people as well we got more confidence in the members. So this time that we had splits, it was my turn to go with this one member that’s kind of crazy. To give you an idea about this man he tells us that one day he seen god but God couldn’t see him. Because God had his back to him..... Yeah, he’s really crazy. So anyways we went to this one friend of his and I started with How to begin teaching. And that usually takes 20 mins. When I finished this member wanted to cut my head off. He said, Elder why didn’t you teach him anything about the priesthood or anything. He was really mad with me. So I told him, hey man right now we are giving them milk. And then after we will give them meat. He didn’t understand how to take it step by step.

So we had that really good day where we had a bunch of lessons with the members on Wednesday. But now everything has been falling through left right and center. We had plans with a member to teach in his house on Thursday. We went to see if he was there but he left to go the city! I wasn’t to happy with the member... But we were able to get some more help from some other members which wasn’t the best but it’s still something. 

So we changed houses here in our area. And I’ll tell you why. We had the world’s smallest house in the mission. It was super-hot and sometimes the water wouldn’t work for like three days. So we found a new house that’s nice and big and it’s not super super hot. We got help from the branch president and some other members as well. When we were getting everything ready I was looking and thinking, This will be easy, we don’t have that much stuff. But then I remembered that everything is really big, and heavy, and takes up a lot of room. But it went really well it only took an hour and a half. After we went and visited this family that went to church like 100 years ago but they didn’t get baptized or anything like that. But they love the missionary’s. They always want to talk to us and always want to see how we are doing. We gave a lesson about always having God in their lives. I played a game with them about prayer. The game is played with a tie. It’s really cool. I won’t tell you how to play it right now because I want to see if you all can figure it out when I come home. But anyways the mom liked this lesson a lot. She said that it is nice that we were able to teach with a game and not just with reading and talking.

So Sunday was a normal day for us. We went to church and we see the same people. But we see someone different, We seen the first counselor of the mission. The reason why he was there is because we called President Shumway and told him about what has been happening here in the branch. So he sent one of his counselor’s to see what was going on. The only ones who knew about him coming was us and our ward mission leader. So when the branch president seen that there was someone from the mission he was very nervous. A lot of members aren’t to happy with the president here. The thing that I don’t get is that the members think the missionary’s are here to clean everything up. But my call didn’t say that haha, So we did what we need to do. To put it in the hand of the stake and the mission. But other than that we had a really good Sunday. There are always more and more people always showing up which is really nice.

As well I got my package finally! I want to thank my family for always sending me great things. I love the letters that everyone has sent. The Salmons as well for the spinner! It’s funny the spinners are really big right now here in Guatemala so it’s good that I got one hahah But as always we need to remember the best thing..... Peanut Butter!!!! Finally got myself peanut butter ahah the one thing everyone waits for in a package. So thanks to everyone that sent something in package means A lot!

So that was really our week. I’m sorry I didn’t write to much but to be honest I was so tired this past week. I fell into my bed one night after I finished calling the district leader and boom! I was out cold. My comp told me the next day that he tried to wake me up but it was like I died. It was a good week of working hard I guess haha.

Thanks for all the love support and prayers you send me! I hope you all have a great week and that you all are enjoying the heat while it lasts haha because it 2 months it will be cold again ahaha 

Love you all!!

PS I am now a new district leader. 

17 July 2017

So, we had our first interviews with President Shumway on Tuesday. And it was a little different. I don’t know how to say it but it was different. We started talking and he asked me how my area was and he told me that he was very happy with how I told him, our area is getting better little by little. He told me that he was happy that I was able to see the changes in our area. We talked a little more about that and then he says, well Elder Nelson I think I might have you end your mission in Pueblo Nuevo Vinas. But I’ll see what the Lord says. I then told him, President I only have 9 months here in the mission... He thought I only had 2 months left in the mission. It was pretty funny. But he told me that he would like to keep me here for maybe one more change. But we will see what will happen. 

So in the interview as well President Shumway said that we will soon see changes in the area. And when we came back to work we were with a member that brought his friend to church. So we asked if his friend had time to listen to a lesson. When his friend showed up, I knew who he was. I contacted his house and he said he didn’t want anything. So I was very curious to see how the lesson would go. When we started, it started as every other lesson with a member. Why don’t the Mormons drink coffee_ Everyone always asks these questions. But then we started talking and we had a really good lesson about the church. Maybe he will be a slow investigator, but the way he asked questions was awesome. One of his questions was how is it that we are always happy when sometimes is rains cats and dogs or that it will be super-hot and we always have a smile. The reason he asked the questions is because he wanted that as well. He wanted to always be a light. So we had my comp, a member and I testify about the work as a missionary as well as being a member and how this church helps us receive that happiness. He then said, I would like to meet with you again next week. After I read, and  because you are two cool guys. So hopefully he will want to learn more!!

So our investigators passed there interviews and they are really excited for their Baptism. I’m really happy as well. After we had that interview we went to a member’s house. The members are not too happy with Elder Cruz here in the area. And to be honest its true. I asked them why they felt bad or didn’t feel good with Cruz. And it was because he was more prideful, the members didn’t like how he wanted to change the lives of the members. So I sat down with him and said, Look there are a lot of members and investigators that aren’t to happy with how you are as a missionary. I know you want to work with members and have everyone love you but you need to change your attitude about everything. He would say, oh everyone here in Guatemala is bad at soccer. He thinks he’s the best. As well he thinks Honduras is the best. So, we talked about that and I hope he can change. 

So we had our two Baptisms!!!! We had a great Sunday. We had the opportunity to have a baptism with our zone leader. We didn’t just have one person get baptized, or two, or three, or 4, But 5 people were baptized. Our two and three from the zone leaders. We had a great afternoon full of people and full of people dressed in white! So usually when we have a baptism everything takes place we the baptismal fount is. We had everything set up but there were way too many people. So, we had to change it for the chapel. I was really happy to see the turn out. So, everything went good with the baptism and we were able to confirm all of them on Sunday as well. Elder Harris asked if we should go up and confirm Oscar and Aura. I told him only if they ask us. And just as I said that Aura asked if I could confirm her as a member. I didn’t know what to say. never have I done that in my mission or before in my life. So, you can say I was kind of nervous haha. But I believe that it went good. I was so happy to see all those people get baptized. All those people be washed cleaned. All those family’s getting ready to become an eternal family. 

That was our week. I love you all. Thank you for everything that you all do for me. I am very grateful for all the prayers and support you send my way!! Love you guys!!

10 July 2017

Hey there everyone!

So we had divisions here in Pueblo last Tuesday. And I was here with a new missionary from the states. He has 4 weeks here in the mission. To be honest it was really fun. It reminded of me when I came into the mission and I didn´t know any Spanish haha. But as well I remembered that the way the other missionary´s helped me. I remember Elder Hunter and Elder Stephan would always help me back in Catocha. So I did the best I could to help him. We had a good day with him to be honest, I felt bad for him though. He got super sick in the night. I told him hey don´t worry about it, it gets better haha I felt so bad for this kid. 

So we have been working with a family that has been listening to the elders for 6 months. But they aren´t baptized yet. The wife wants to be baptized like really wants to get baptized. And the husband is so, so. But the other day we were there in the house and the wife said, Elders I’m gonna be honest with you. I really want to get baptized because I know it’s the right thing. She went on saying all that and then turned to her husband and said I want to wait to get baptized with you, And she said, I’m asking you right now if you want to get baptized. I didn´t know what to think but then he said okay. So now we have an interview planned for 11 of July. I’m really happy to know that they are gonna get baptized.

So I love our ward mission leader. He’s kind of a nerdy guy but really chill. He was inactive when I came to this area. He didn´t like his calling, he didn´t want to go to church, a bunch of stuff like that. But now he’s more active now. So the other day we planed with him to visit people close to his house. We told him we would meet him at the gas station at 10:30. Once we got there it was 11:10... He said, Elders!! What happened?  You said 10:30, Now its 11:10!! Just because I like you guys I didn´t leave. We told him we had a lesson with a person that could get baptized. We had a good laugh about it though haha. 

So we had an activity in the church that was pretty good to be honest. We had 12 investigators that came to the activity. We told the members to invite one friend who does not know anything about the church. When we showed up we saw that no one invited a friend. All the investigators that went were people that we talked to, and invited them. It made me kind of upset to see that but what can you do right. We still had 12 investigators in the activity. To be 100% it went pretty good. I didn´t have much faith but nothing bad happened. 

So we have the Sr. Missionary´s here in our branch and they are really awesome people. Back when Elder Stephan was here, Elder Harris the Sr. missionary said, Elders I feel bad, my name tag says elder, my call said I’m an elder, I’m set apart as an elder. But I’m a dentist. It was kind of funny when he said that. But remember the family that is going to get baptized_ The dad asked Elder Harris if he could baptize him!! The man was so happy. This is really good with them getting ready to be baptized and now them asking people to be baptized is one great thing I believe because it shows us and the branch that they are feel confortable and trust the people here. Funny story with the Elder Harris today, as well. We were teaching a class about the priesthood. And we were talking about teachers’ deacons and priests. And Elder Harris said a word in Spanish but that they used in the Catholic Church. I stopped and looked at him and said Elder that’s not the right word... We had a good laugh. 

So life is good here in Pueblo. We finally get to baptize the family Rosito and we have a great ward mission leader. I’m really happy with the changes that are happening here. As always thanks for all the help that you all send me thanks for all the love and prayers you all give!! Love you all! 

Elder Nelson

Trying to get some shade today from the sun