29 December 2014

Happy New Year!

It was so fun to talk you all on Christmas! Thanks for working with me to make that happen! I am so lucky to have such an amazing family! 

THis week was awesome. Ruth and Gustavo got married! on the 10th of January Ruth will get baptized. She is an amazing mom and has sincere desires to repent and be baptized. SHe is so excited to go to the temple and wants her two boys to go on missions. I love her so much! I am excited to see her progress. Her husband was less active but now is coming back to church. We are seeing their family be healed and more united through the gospel of Jesus Christ. I love being a missionary!

The last picture is us acting like their teenage son Guen, on the right, who has such a sassy attitude and hates pictures. After so many pictures that night, we decided to take this one in honor of him. haha. 

Love you all and hope you have a happy and safe New Year!

Love,

Hermana Nelson


22 December 2014

El es la Dadiva

He is the gift. 

Just want to share my simple testimony with you all in honor of Christmas this week and in honor of Grandma Peck.

I am so grateful for my Savior Jesus Christ. My testimony and faith in Him have grown tremendously this past year. I feel closer to Him because I have come to understand how essencial He is in my life. Because Christ was born, I can overcome my own imperfections and be freed from feelings of sorrow and pain. Because He was born, I know that we will all live again. I know that we will all be resurected and if we prove to be faithful to Him and repent in this life, we will enter into His presence. Because Christ was born, lived, and died for us, I know that I will be reunited with my family after this life. I know that Grandma Peck is at peace and now rejoicing with Grandpa Peck. I know that I will be reunited with her again. She was a true example of enduring to the end... staying firm in her faith in Jesus Christ. I am grateful for her valient and humble example. All these things were made possible because Jesus Christ was born. I can´t think of a greater, more important and wonderful gift than the one our loving Heavenly Father gave to each of us... His son, Jesus Christ. It´s a gift that will never fade away and one we can remember and celebrate everyday. I know that Christ lives and loves us. He invites us to come unto Him... with arms of mercy extended out towards us. Discover the gift. Accept the gift. Share the gift.

Feliz Navidad!

Love,

Hermana Nelson

01 December 2014

Come What May And Love It

I decided this is my new theme for every transfer. For anyone that`s served a mission, you know how incredible stressful it is the week before transfers... just anticipating your changes and then opening your email to see what the Lord has in store for you. It`s always a fun experience, I`d say. Well I recieved the news that I`ll be going to Cusco, the Inti Raymi ward ("party of the sun" in Quechwa) to serve as a Sister Training Leader. I`m really grateful for the opportunity to serve in a new calling and learn and grow more! 

Serving in Puerto has been an such a spiritually trying and strengthening experience. I have learned so much about trusting in the Lord and having faith. The Lord has blessed me so much with people to teach here. We found families to teach that are truly prepared to here the gospel. The Lord is changing their hearts. I have seen that in my time here. Here`s just a few of the families I`ve seen be changed through the gospel while I`ve been in Puerto...

Paddy and Emerson. A family that was supposedly "going downhill". Paddy was losing all hope to be happy ever again. Through reading the Book of Mormon with them frequently as a family, I have seen their hearts change. Emerson has changed his perspective of the Preisthood power he posseses and his responsabilities as a return missionaries. Their faith has grown! Paddy now wants to be sealed in the temple with her family. 

Jhasmina and Yersin. Ah so many incredible changes I`ve seen in them. Yersin decided to stop drinking to improve his life and relationship with his family. They were married because "it is a commandment of God" and was baptized. Even in the challenges they`ve had after baptism, I have seen them truly persever, excercise repentance through the atonement and learn for themselves strength that comes from obedience. Yersin is preparing to recieve the higher Preisthood and they are both preparing to be sealed in the temple.

Vianeth and Jonathan. A family we contacted in the park... THEY are prepared. They were ready to accept more fully Jesus Christ in their lives. I have seen the Holy Ghost work in their hearts to help them understand the gospel of Jesus Christ and apply it. Yesterday they came to District conference and were able to meet President Harbertson. It was the first time he came to church in a white shirt and tie! They are going to be married and baptized on December 20th.

Alma 26:12 "Yo sè que nada soy; en cuanto a mi fuerza, soy debil; por tanto, no me jactarè de mì mismo, sino que me gloriarè in mi Dios, porque con su fuerza puedo hacer todas las cosas..." These are not my "successes". These are the successes of these families... they themselves have accepted Jesus Christ in their lives and have found true joy and hope through His Gospel. I am grateful for the opportunity I have had to be a part of their lives and learn from them. My own faith has been strengthened. I love these people and so many of the other people I have worked with here! It will be hard to leave, but I have 100% trust in my companion Hermana McMahon. She is an amazing missionary... super obedient and has true desires to serve. I love her for that. We had way too much fun together... We`re just both really goofy haha. But we also grew a lot and learned a lot together. Now, on to the next chapter! Come what may and love it!

I love you all and am praying for you tons! 

Hermana Nelson

20 November 2014

A Loving Heavenly Father

This week was so wonderful. Like I said last week, we had a conference on Tuesday with Elder Evans, the Executive Director of Mission work and a member of the quorum of the 70. Words can`t really describe how the conference went. I received so many strong impressions by the spirit in the conference and learned so much. My life was changed by the things I learned. That`s not just exaggerating... I truly felt the spirit so strongly, that I felt my mind enlightened by the what was taught. It was a very unique conference... not just the usual sitting and listening for hours, but he had us really participate and led us to answering our own questions. I think we all left feeling a little more enlightened about questions we had. I also had the incredible opportunity to have a one on one interview with Elder Evans. I don`t know how or why, but I was one of 6 people in the mission to have an interview with him. So I took it as a very special opportunity. We conversed. I cried a little bit. It was so great. My life will forever be changed by the spirit and impressions I felt in that interview. I am so incredible grateful for the opportunity we had to hear from Elder Evans and most importantly his inspired words that truly brought the spirit to teach us.

I`m loving being a missionary. I hate the thought of this experience ending, however I know that as the conference this week changed my life, the mission truly has changed my life. I am excited to but these things into practice in my life after the mission. But for now, I feel a new excitement and humbled spirit to serve the Lord and bring others to Him. It`s the greatest thing I could ever be doing with my life! I`m so grateful for all that I am learning and experiencing here! I feel so extremely loved and blessed by my Heavenly Father. He truly hears and answers my prayers and questions of my heart. If you have doubts, go ahead, just ask. Try Him and I promise that He will answer your prayers. Be patient, diligent and obedient and your eyes will be opended to His eternal love for you.

Love you so much!

Hermana Nelson

10 November 2014

Sincere Desires = Happy Missionaries

This week was really great! We saw a lot of great tender mercies! We have been contacting a lot more families and finding more and more people that are truly prepared. 

Last night we visited a family, Milagros and Pablo with their baby, Pablo Jr. Wow, it`s so fun to teach people that truly have the desires to know the truth. They are catholic and their whole family... parents, grandparents, etc. are catholic, so they`re a little hesitant to change religion, but they are willing to learn about what we are teaching because they want what`s best for their family. They are truly seeking what Heavenly Father wants for them. They are both very intellectual people which can sometimes make teaching hard if they don`t have humble hearts, but Pablo and Milagros are actual really humble and like I said have sincere desires. I can feel the spirit so strongly as we teach them. He said that he can feel the passion that we have for "our religion" as we teach and talk about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon, yet I know that it`s really the spirit that he is feeling when we testify that these things are true. They came to church on Sunday and had some questions about that, but really liked it! Pablo said he is going to commit to come to church, and start reading to Book of Mormon and ask God if it is true. I have no doubt that with his open hear and sincere desires, Heavenly Father with show him the truth of what we are teaching. It`s so fun to teach people that can really feel it and have opens hearts to our message. My faith is growing more and more in the miracles I know Heavenly Father can work in people´s lives. If we would but truly trust in HIM and His promises to obedient children, we could see truly great miracles in our own lives! 

I`m learning more about come closer to Jesus Christ. I read a talk about being perfected in Christ today... it was humbling to reflect on the pure love that Heavenly Father has for His children. Although we are all a work in progress, we are the greatest work he has ever made. 

Love you all so much! I probably won`t be writing next Monday because we are going to a conference in Cusco with Elder Evans! Should be pretty amazing! I`ll probably be writing later that week.

Also, shout out to Grandma Peck! Happy 80th Birthday Grandma! I love you so much and hope you have the greatest birthday ever! I look up to you so much and feel like I have come to know you more on my mission through the stories that my mom has been sending me. I love you so much and am praying for you daily! 

Con amor,

Hermana Nelson

03 November 2014

Hermana McMahon is the Best Companion of All Time

I asked my companion what my subject for the email should be and that`s what she suggested. I guess it`s pretty fitting and absolutely true. She rocks.

AH this week was so great. We saw great miracles as we more closely followed the counsel of our mission president. 

So I`ve already told you about the two young couples we contacted in the park a few weeks ago... and then Eduardo the recent convert from cusco that also lives with them. After the lesson last week and the many prayers and fasting for them, we saw incredible blessings. We had a great lesson with them, by simply reading the Book of Mormon and talking about baptism. The spirit was strong and the babies were quiet. We invited them to be married and baptized on the December 20th and they accepted! It was so natural and went so smoothly. I know they spirit had softened their hearts. Heavenly Father truly prepared them to hear the gospel. They are progressing so well. Yonathan is on fire in our lessons! You can tell he is truly being taught by the spirit because one person will have a doubt or a question and he will say something like, "I think I understand..." and then explain so perfectly that we just look at him with huge smiles and say, "Yep! That`s exactly right!" We`re excited for them and I`m praying I`ll be here for another transfer to see them start the path to following Jesus Christ. 

 Eduardo is doing awesome too. He  explained to us this week that after not having been to church since he moved to Puerto (about 7 months), he stumbled upon the book "Teachings from President Joseph F. Smith" at the jail he workds at.... and that following day, we came to visit his friends and met him! He took it as an opportunity that Heavenly Father was giving him to put his life back in order and return to church. Well, Eduardo has taken that opportunity seriously and come back full force! That week he came to church, had an interview with the President of the branch, and has attended multiple YSA activities since then. We`re even hoping that their friend Eduardo can baptize the couples since he already has the Priesthood.

It was a great week and a fun Halloween... this year I was a sister missionary. I love you all and praying for you daily as always!

Con mucho love,

Hermana Nelson

27 October 2014

Ether 12:27

Holy cow it`s really hot here. I didn`t think it could get much hotter, but it does. The funny thing about Puerto is that every time we talk to someone the first thing they say is "Ah it`s hot! Isn`t it?", as if yesterday wasn`t hot and tomorrow won`t be just as hot. The weather is a natural conversation starter even if it is ever so constantly. brutally. HOT.

This week was ahhhh good. They always say that if you ask God for patience, he`ll give you opportunities to be patient. That was proved to be more than true this week. I was very humbled this week by many circumstances, and more than anything by coming to see my own weaknesses. Sometimes we get into a dangerous rhythm of "oh yeah, I know what I`m doing". I was praying to be more humble so I can really come to know Heavely Father`s will for me here. He gave me a few good opportunities this week to humble myself. We had planned a lesson for the 2 new families we are teaching and had planned to teach the Law of Chastity and invite them to get married and baptized. We planned out the lesson, and prayed and fasted all day hoping that everything would go well and that they would accept the invitation to be baptized. We were all focused on them. Going into the lesson, we felt good and started off reading the Book of Mormon with them because they hadn`t read. The spirit was strong as we taught about the importance of the Book of Mormon. Then we went ahead with the lesson we had planned about chastity. It was fine... they understood, but were very distracted by babies crying and other random questions and soon enough we kind of lost control of the spirit. By the end, we didn`t feel good about inviting them to be baptized. I ended with by sure testimony of the Book of Mormon. I felt the spirit as I testified of that truth and as my companion testified of our Heavenly Father`s love for us. We left the lesson feeling a little frustrated with how things went. After a long day we were physically and emotionally exhausted. We talked it all out and went over where we went wrong. I came to realize through that experience that I was putting my trust in my own weak abilities rather than putting my faith in my Heavenly Father and his all-knowing power. Although we were fasting a praying, I wasn`t truly doing it with faith in Him. I was doing it with faith in myself. It helped me to remember that I need to truly turn to Him and "consult him in all my doings" and let him direct my path. He showed me my many weaknesses this week and helped me to be a little more humble. It constantly amazes me to think about how imperfect I am, yet how much trust Heavenly Father has put in me to Preach His gospel and brings souls unto Him and His Son. How could he possibly be okay with letting me loose to do that?? Well, it`s because he loves me. He trusts be because he knows I can do it. He has a divine potential and plan for each one of us.

I love being a missionary. I am still learning and learning and learning. I can`t imagine my life without this experience! We are working with lots of knew people and hoping to see more progress in this sector as we turn our will to Heavenly Father. 

Thank you for the video with Nate. We are working with a less active, Karol, that is suffering from depression. I`ll tell you more about her crazy and miraculous story next week. Definitely helped me understand a little more of what she might be going through. 

Love you SO much! 

Hermana Nelson

P.S. Candy, the cat had 4 baby kittens and then ATE them!!! AHHHH talk about traumatic.
P.P.S. Found three REALLY abnormally HUGE cocroaches in our bathroom last night. I poured like half of our hand soap on one of them to kill it. It worked. Also found a scorpion. Oh and we were invited to eat lunch with a member this week. They made Hamburgers! LOTS of hamburgers!! I`ll send pics next week. 

20 October 2014

Cuentas tus bendiciones.

This week was really great! We saw even more little miracles... seriously the Lord is blessing us WAY too much! 

So, maybe you`ve noticed, but we are really focusing on families right now. The President a few months ago challenged us to contact EVERY family we pass in the street. Seeing a family all together in the street is a very unusual thing here, so it`s a rare opportunity when we run into a family. President Harbertson said that he strongly feels that these families are prepared to here the gospel and progress because they already have that foundation of a family. Also, in order to help build the kingdom of God, we need families! The family we met last week, we haven`t been able to get in contact with again, but we`ll keep trying this week. We actually found two new families! Once again, walking by a park we saw two couples with thier babies... Hermana McMahon and I just looked at each other and without hesitation went right over to contact them. We were able to make another appointment to visit them a few days later. They are two really great couples that are seeking guidance for their families. The husbands work security at a near by jail and have a lot of days free so it makes it easy for us to make appointments with them. What really surprised us was when they introduced us to their friend that also lives with them, Eduardo. He came out with a Book of Mormon and another church book in hand! We were like, "uh what? are you a member?!" He explained that he was a member from Cusco recently baptized, but was inactive since he had been in Puerto for 5 months. It was seriously another testimony to me that Heavenly Father really is looking out for his children. He knows us personally and knows what we need more that we ourselves do. He`ll send us help if we will only accept it. Eduardo and on eof the couples, Jonatan and Vianet came to church yesterday! So many people were at church yesterday! We are seeing progress littl eby little and seeing blessings in the lives of the people we visit. 

Love you all and praying for you!

Hermana Nelson

13 October 2014

Soy Peruana

You know you`ve been living in Peru too long when your skin starts turning darker, you`re starving for dinner because you didn`t have rice for lunch, and you crave rice and avocado at the end of the day... and your arms start getting hairier. Just a few things I may or may not be experiencing.

We saw a miracle this week when we contacted a family in a park... The mom had serious desires to learn about the truth about religion. It feels good to be able to testify to people that promise them that their doubts and questions will be resolved as they listen to our message. We have an appointment with them tonight so we`re pretty stoked abou that. Other families and miracles are in process! I`ll update you more next week!

Love you all so much! Viva Peru!

Love,

Hermana Nelson

06 October 2014

Obedient Faith

This week was great! A few really great experiences on how our faith can bring about  miracles. On saturday we set a goal to find a new investigator, although we were only going to be working in our own sector for an hour or so because we are going to do work in another sector all day. Yet, we had faith! Well, while visiting families in the other sector, we found a lady that lived in my sector! She accepted a visit from us this coming week!
 
This week we are going to watch conference in the chapel! Mom, I do live in the jungle, but we aren`t that deprived! I`m super excited to watch it and we are all praying that our investigators come!! Especially a new couple, Nilo and Yenny, I`ll tell you about them next week!
 
Love you all tons! Have a fabulous week!
 
Love,

Hermana Nelson

29 September 2014

Weak Things Made Strong

This week was really good! Feels like it went by really fast. One of those weeks that we didn`t see HUGE progress in a lot of people, but we saw a lot of great, significant starts to great things. We have been visiting a lady, Viki, since I have been here. She is a less active and has a lot of physical, mental, emotional, financial, and spiritual struggles. However, her faith is firm and strong in God. She knows who Jesus Christ is and understands His hand in her life... that will never change. She is a single mom with three kids and is only 26 years old. I have grown such a great love for her. Especially this week. We had the opportunity to visit with her a little more often than usual and have really powerful lessons guided directly by the spirit. We had planned one day to talk about the Chastity and ended up going from that into the Gospel of Jesus Christ and repentance... another day we were going to talk about Tithing and ended up talking about the redemption that comes from the atonement and Faith in Christ... Each lesson we had, we felt guided by the spirit to change our lesson plans and focus on Jesus Christ and his gospel. In each lesson we testified in a different way how the Atonement can heal us. I know that is true. It is truly all in our hands. If we truly desire to be freed from a certain burden, guilt, or challenge we have, we need to turn to Jesus Christ and his gospel. Like the Book of Mormon and Bible teach us countless times... He is the only way by which we can find true happiness in this life, be redeemed of our sins, and eventually recieve the blessings of eternal life, the greatest of all gifts. 

I am grateful for the Atonement in my life and how I have seen it work in the lives of others. It is a gift for all of us to use for our whole lives. We`ll never be perfect, but we were made to become better everyday. Thankfully, the Atonement makes that possible. 

I love you so much!!

Love,

Hermana Nelson

22 September 2014

Mosiah 5:13

HOLA familia! Como estàn? Estoy muy bien! Hace calor aquì. Me gustan gatos. 

I guess you could say my spanish is getting better, right? No, but seriously, despite the 4 North American companions I`ve had, I feel like I am really picking up on Spanish. Yesterday in a meeting we watched a short video and part of it was in English with subtitles and then it switched to spanish without the subtitles and I didn`t even realize... I was like "wait where are the subtitles in spanish?, these latin missionaries aren`t going to understand what it is saying!" and then I realized that it was speaking spanish. It`s all becoming just a part of my brain. It`s a weird thing.

So, as you all know I am training again! It`s going super well and I am learning a lot. Hermana McMahon studied spanish before so she pretty much knows everything, we`re just practicing speaking more. She is learning and progressing so much everyday! Seriously everytime we do those super fun and sometimes really awkward "practice lessons" during companion study, she puts everything we studied into practice and then applies it what we do during the day. She is really helping me to go back to the basics. I feel like I am really remembering the most important things of missionary work and that I am progressing a ton. I feel more fully emmersed in the work! I don`t feel so strange to be a missionary, but it just feels more of who I am now.

We have seen some great miracles these past couple weeks in our sector. We recently found and are teaching FOUR NEW FAMILIES! Talk about miracles. I am super excited about each of them because I feel that they all have a desire to learn about Jesus Christ which is a great first step! One family, Alicia and Renè (we contacted Alicia in the street because her friend was holding a cute puppy... we look for all sorts of excuses to talk to people haha) came to church yesterday! The whole family! And they loved it. It was the first time Renè, the husband came to church, but he was beaming the whole time. He said his work called him during church, but he just ignored their calls haha. We sincerely prayed that they would come to church as a family this week and it was a perfect answer to our prayers. 

Lots of other little miracles are happening as we are becoming more fully engaged in this work. I am coming to know my Savior as I serve him more fully. I read a really great scripture in Mosiah today that you all need to read... Mosiah 5:13. #cometoknowhimbyservinghim

Love you all tons! Know that I am happy, and eating lots of bananas and avocado... and sometimes ice cream... so I would say I`m fairly healthy too :)

also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAILEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOohoo!!! Good job on the first 2 years of your life, now you`re going into the third one. It`s going to be great, lot`s of ups and downs ahead, but stay strong and keep helping grandma make yummy cookies and practice that cannon ball into the pool for me when I get home... Love you lots!

Con un abrazo MUY grande por todos!

Hermana Nelson


16 September 2014

Lo Siento!

Hey sorry I didn´t write yesterday! I guess it´s what happens when the
power goes out... and the water... yikes.

This week has been great! I went to Cusco and picked up my new comp!
Hermana McMahon is her name. She is from Indiana, likes to sing, likes
ice cream, is a convert of about 6 years, and is really beautiful! She
has an amazing spirit about her. I know that we are going to work hard
together and learn lots. She showed a lot of patience with me when I
locked us out of our room our first night here... whoops!

I´m sorry I haven´t written much these past few weeks, but I am really
doing well and loving Puerto! It´s hot as ever and I never stop
sweating, but I LOVE IT! I will write more next week I swear!!

I love you all so much!

Con Amor,

Hermana Nelson


Bus ride to CUSCO! hashtag barf hashtag so beautiful

Hermana Condie and my last day together in Puerto. Super sad, but fun
to see all the great lives she influenced while here in Puerto. She
was an amazing companion. I learned so much from her by her humble
example. She truly made me a better person.
My new companion! Hermana McMahon from INDIANA. You can only imagine
how much the peruvians are butchering her name! It even took me a day
to get it right.

08 September 2014

FIRMES EN LA FE

This week was a lot different than last to be honest. We didn`t see a
lot of immediate success... like NO ONE was home. Nor did many people
come to church. But we had unexpected success... or unanticipated
blessings from the Lord. It was a good week. Just another lesson to
live firm in the faith of our Heavenly Father and Savior.

Also, I don`t have a change this transfer, but I will be training
again! My companion, Hermana Condie will go to Cusco! AHHHH we are a
little shocked and sad, but I feel really calm and good about what`s
to come! I will receive my new companion in Cusco on Wednesday!


Love,

Hermana Nelson



01 September 2014

"I can hear the bells...

...Can`t ya hear them ring?"

This week was ahhh... so amazing.

Jhasmina and Yersin got married!! and right after the ceremony, he
changed into all white and was baptized. Despite the expected and oh
so unexpected chaos of that day (the couple almost bailing on the
wedding, food being 3 hours behind schedule, trying to fry wantans in
the light of a candle bc the power went out... are just a few
examples), we saw incredible blessings. One of them being the  Grandma
of Jhasmina coming to the rescue! We were through it all with Yersin
and Jhasmina... all their doubts, troubles, and being bugged by
eachother... and then the grandma walked in the room and said, "Hey,
look I have a few more years of experience under my belt. I think I
could help whatever is happening here!" And she did. It was an answer
to my prayers in this desperate moment. Honestly, everything was
perfect. I mean, not perfect at all, but that`s exactly how weddings
and baptisms should be! The most important thing was that they were
incredibly happy. After the wedding ceremony, they were beaming... ah
but it just got better after the baptism! Yersin bore his testimony,
and i think he said, "I`m so happy" like 20 times. I could immediately
see a change in both of them. They both made huge life changes that
day. Changes that took a lot of faith in the Lord. They chose to test
their own faith, and truly recieved so much joy from choosing to do
what the Lord wanted for them. As we sat and talked with them
yesterday, Yersin and Jhasmina just expressed the joy they feel.
Yersin told us he wants to help other people change their lives like
he changed his own through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I learned from them a great lesson. Although we may be comfortable in
life, and things are going alright. You will never experience true,
pure JOY and HAPPINESS until you go through the trial of faith and try
your obedience to the Lord. There is always something more in store
for us. The Lord is waiting  on us to follow Him and then, when we
have shown sufficient faith, he will pour out the blessings upon us.


Con Amor,

Hermana Nelson
Peruvian leafs are cool.
I`m changing the world by converting my companion to "LOVING" sunscreen!
There`s a house that has this one plant that smells SOOO good. It
smells like lemon cookies or pinesol, lemon scent... ahh we love it.
So everytime we pass by that house we take a leaf of the plant... I
wonder if the owner has noticed that their plant is slowly shrinking.
ha. ha.
Yesterday this little kid came up to us and said, "Look what we
found!" Here, a present for you. Well, we took it and then didn`t know
what to do with it because it`s just a baby and can`t fly yet! I felt
so bad... and my companion, well really doesn`t love animals. haha so
while she voted to just stick it in a bush somewhere (and let it DIE),
I voted to take it to the member we live with and ask her what to do.
Luckily she has a soft spot for animals... and well, right now the
bird is in a cardboard box under my desk... The member we live with,
Julia, is going to buy a bird cage and take care of it until it can
fly. haha. Brought back memories to when I somehow convinced Mom and
Dad to bring a stray cat from Mexico home from us. Still don`t know
how I pulled that one off.

25 August 2014

Strength and Change Through the Atonement


Quick thought for the week.

I`ve been thinking a lot about my life goals, mission goals, goals,
and more goals. I am realizing and understanding that we each have
incredible potential, but it is our job to strive to reach that
potential.

"Not only does the Atonement of Jesus Christ overcome the effects of
the Fall of Adam and make possible the remission of our individual sins
and transgressions, but His atonement also enables us to do good and
become better in ways that stretch for beyond our mortal capacities.
Most of us know that when we do things wrong and need help to overcome
the effect of sin in our lives, the Savior has made it possible for us
to become clean through His redeeming power. But do we also understand
that the Atonement is for faithful men and women who are obedient,
worthy, and conscientious and who are striving to become better and
serve more faithfully? I wonder if we fail to fully acknowledge this
strengthening aspect of the Atonement in our lives and mistakenly
believe we must carry our load all alone-- through sheer grit,
willpower, and discipline and with our obviously limited capacities."
- Elder Bednar ("Bear up their burdens with ease" GC 2014)

I have felt that healing and strengthening power of the atonement
immensely on my mission. I am grateful for the sacrifice the Savior
made for me so that I can me strengthened in my weaknesses and become
the missionary the Lord wants me to be.

Yersin and Jhasmina are doing really well! Next week I`ll send you
pics of their WEDDING and BAPTISM!! He called us the other night and
told us he was just waiting at work and had is Book of Mormon... he
asked us what chapter in the Book of Mormon we would recommend for him
to read. It was a very touching moment. A huge evidence that he is
changing drastically and coming to truly follow Christ. He is
experiencing the healing and changing power of the Atonement of Jesus
Christ.

Love you all so much!

Hermana Nelson
That one time Candy the cat tried to crawl in our window because it
was raining.
Candy also likes to sleep on my lap while we teach lessons.

Sister Leaders and Comp Love!

Monkey Friend
With the Branch Pres and family and their three new puppies!
Our favorite food here.
Marìa our pensionista!

18 August 2014

Ire y Hare

This week was good! We are seeing more and more progression in the
branch. Yesterday 11 of the less actives we are working with were in
sacrament meeting! Woah! Seriously, such a blessing from the Lord. We
are working hard and trying to follow the spirit to really know who to
work with and who is really prepared for us to teach.

Jhasmina and Yersin are progressing really well! We are making plans
for their wedding! Yersin is super strong and getting more and more
ready for baptism. I`m really excited for them!! Ah! In 2 weeks we`ll
have the big FIESTA! August 30th.

Just want to apologize to Mom and Dad for being a difficult teenager at
times and being REALLY hard to get out of bed some mornings... or most
mornings. We went to pick up a less active for church on Sunday. He`s
18 and likes to sleep a lot. Well, we knocked, and waited outside his
door, his mom yelled at him, and we waited and waited... and all we
got was, "no, you guys go ahead, I`ll meet you there..." Ah, well he
didn`t come and probably hates us now, but ya know, we`re just trying
to help. We worry a lot about that kid and really just are trying to
help him be happy. Now I understand that perspective a little
better... sorry mom and dad haha.

Love you all tons!

Hermana Nelson

Sometimes it rains a lot! I heart Puerto.
My companion is really warming up to liking cats...