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We had stake conference this week! SO AMAZING. The Lima temple President spoke. Megan, you asked what my thoughts were about the temple? GO TO THE TEMPLE!!! It will bless your life in ways you never imagined. Do it. The president and his wife were there too. I love them so much!

We had a fun field day activity with our Zone last Pday! It was super fun, and we were all super filthy by the end of it. Success. 

We also had a great Vday... haha I`ve never felt so single in my life. Probably the best kind of single there is! haha

Mile 13

This week was... hm. You know when they say that in your mission the days feel like weeks and the weeks feel like days. That statement has never been more true. We had one of those days where everyone decided to NOT BE HOME and the weather decided to be WAY TOO HOT. Not the greatest combination. However, at the end of the day, we ended up having an amazing lesson with a less active family. They are going to start preparing to go to the temple! The Lord never fails to test us, then give us a little miracle at the end of the day... but only IF we proved to persevere and work hard until the end. It reminded me of the Mississippi river marathon... Dad, you`ll appreciate this analogy... Sometimes, you hit mile 13 and want to die. But then you remember the end goal, remember that you have people cheering you on, and you remember that you can`t quit. Then (with a little ibprofuen) you get the strength to finish it. If we remember the big picture, remember that we have a heavenly Father that is always cheering us on, and remember that in reality, we CAN do it, we will find the strength to finish. Our pensionista`s son came with us all day yesterday, and we just about killed him. We walked for every street in Cusco. (He`s a little chubby kid and his mom told us to not let him eat while we were out... she likes it when he comes with us so he can excercise hahah. He`s adorable.) But we had a great little lesson that day. I was reminded that life is hard sometimes, but nothing is harder than what our Savior experienced. If he could suffer so immensely for every one of us, we can work a little harder, walk a little farther, and finish that marathon. Everything is possible through Jesus Christ. I am grateful for the atonement in my life and I am grateful for the strength I recieve from my Heavenly Father everyday in this amazing work!

Love you all! Thank you for the many emails and pictures this week! You`re all super hot!

Love,

Hermana Nelson

What a week.

This week was FULL of miracles, spiritual experiences on steroids, and so many good learning experiences. I could write this for hours, but I´ll write what I have time for right now. I had amazing experiences with certain people this week. I am learning that the greatest way to learn is through others. Here are a few of the people I have learned from and the experiences that go with it:

1. Dora and Vicki. Remember that email I forwarded to you guys from that lady that went to Lima for cancer treatment after a few weeks of teaching her? Well the missionaries found her like two days after she got there, started teaching her, and 2 days ago, her and her daughter were baptized! We got a call last week during our ward mission meeting from Vicki. She called to ask for permission to get baptized in Lima with the Elders... haha we OF COURSE said yes! We became really good friends while we were teaching her and she said she just had to call her Hermanas in Cusco to make sure it was okay. haha. She´ll be back in cusco in a few weeks. Just another example of the Lord´s timing and planning in our lives. 

2. Cynthia. We have been teaching a girl (27 years) that hasn´t been progressing too much because she is very indecisive... hm, sounds like someone we all know... haha. We are like the same person it´s ridiculous. She is sincerely searching for the truth and is very confused. She doesn´t like to commit to things until she really KNOWS and won´t regret her decision. We took her to the church to show her around and knew that if she was to feel the spirit anywhere, it would be in the church. Well, when we arrived, the Young Single Adults were setting up a Kareoke night in the room right next to the chapel. Yikes. We continued with the tour with whitney houston playing in the background. We sat down with her on the front row of the chapel and just talked. She opened up, we opened up, and had an amazing break through, One of the most spiritually strong moments I have had on my mission. Yeah, the Sexy Saxophone Man, Whitney Houston, and Michael Jackson were there in the background... but that´s exactly it, they were in the background. The only thing we could feel was the spirit strongly testifying to us that this is where we can find peace. I learned that day that the spirit can truly trump anything... even the sexy saxophone man. 

3. President Harbertson. We had interviews this week! My favorite 15 mintues of the 6 weeks! He talked to me about doing the will of the Lord. He said that we often have the desire to do the will of the Lord, but don´t know how to do it. The answer is simple. Obedience. I have probably heard that a MILLION times since even before I left for Peru, but it especially struck me in this moment. If we truly want to do the will of the Lord (and we should want that because he above anyone knows what is best for us), we should do what he has asked of us. And not just do part of what he´s asked, or the things that WE think will make a difference, but do every. single. thing. he has asked. How can we expect him to bless us if we are not striving to do our very best to do the simple things he has asked of us. We talked about progression in the mission and in life... we can constantly improve and should constantly strive to improve. President Harbertson, he is so wise. He is very focused on helping us prepare for life after the mission, while helping us improve now and become the best we can be. He said that if we can figure out how to do the will of the Lord, then we are truly successful missionaries... and it will help us in every part of our lives after our missions. He said so many other great things, but that is what stuck out to me most. I want to strive to be better and do the little things so that I can gain the trust of the Lord and do His will. 

4. Hermana Thompson. My companion is amazing and I learn from her everyday. We had a great comp inventory (I am a huge believer in comp inventory. I get scared everyweek, but I always end up loving it so much) and talked about some things that we could really improve. She told me that she thought both of us had been a little prideful this last week. And that was causing a lack of spirit in lessons, tension... lots of things. She was so right. I think I knew that too, but I am grateful for her honesty. Everyone needs a good slap in the face sometimes, and this week I had a little slap in the face from the Lord. Constant improvement... that´s the lesson. Hermana Thompson taught me something very important though. She said that when we have these "slaps in the face", we should learn from them and move on, taking with us what we learned... don´t dwell on the past. I think it was Robert D. Hales that said "The past is to be learned from, not lived in." This is the beauty of the atonement as well. We can alwyas improve, always work harder, and look to the future with hope.

Other than that, one funny story. A lady was sharing her beliefs with us. She began to tell us that she believes that we should not have make-up, earrings, necklaces, bare legs, or short hair. oops, oops, oops, oops, and oops. In this moment, I was wearing makeup, earrings, a necklace, no leggings or tights, and well, we all know what happened to my hair. I felt like a walking... what we would call "inicuo" or "apostacía". haha, it was pretty funny. 

Love you all. I pray for you everyday! 

Love,

Hermana Nelson

This is my old comp Hermana Allred who is now my sister leader. I get to see her lots here in cusco. it´s fun, we love each other!

NEW ADDRESS (Cusco)

This is Kelly's Address for her area in Cusco:

Hermana Kelly Nelson

Av. La Cultura 2417

En frente la Urb. Santa Ursula

La Capilla Mormon

Cusco, Peru

Since she is in Cusco close to the mission home, she gets her mail pretty quick!  She LOVES getting pictures, letters and postcards.  She doesn't have a lot of time to read emails each week, so getting things in the mail are especially nice.  Thank you!

Pictures 2/10

 The lady that cooks for us also has a store with tons of jackets and boots... sometimes we try her stuff on, and then I put my hair in a mohawk (because I can totally do that now)  and pretend I can rock out on the guitar. Yep.

We love washing clothes! This adorable little girl helped us wash her new baby cousins clothes with us. 

 1. La Plaza de Armas! SO beautiful! This is one of the reasons I love serving in the heart of Cusco. We got to tour this incredible cathedral. It was beautiful and has so much history. The thing that makes it really cool is that the spanish hired the incas to build it all... so those clever little incas threw their own little Inca spin on the catholic church... Like painting the Last Supper with a guineau pig on the table. I`m not really sure if Jesus ate guinea pig at the last supper, but that`s what the Incas think.

 The rock of 12 angles! Cool!

Oh the things we run into in taxis... this was one of the most surprising! Can you see what it is? It`s the Lima temple painted on his dashboard. This guy isn`t a member, but his friends are and want to get married in the temple. So... yeah, I invited him to church :)

Fabian!

Family!

Long week, but ended wonderfully with Fabian`s baptism! It seriously was the perfect day. The baptism couldn`t have gone any more perfect! There are always a lot of worries right before the baptism... hot water, how he`s going to get in the font with his cruches, are members even going to show up?... However, with the help of the Lord, the water was warm, there was no big splash to get into the font, and tons of members came! I think my new favorite part of baptisms is the testimony of the newly baptized person. It is always so sweet and humble. I don`t think he fully understood how to give a testimony, because it started out with, "Heavenly Father", like a prayer. Haha, but he continued to thank the missionaries, and thank Heavenly Father for his baptism and that was it! He looked at us as he ended like, "Was that right?". We gave him the thumbs up for approval with big grins! His sister, Evangelina, who is a member gave the closing prayer. It was so sweet. She thanked Heavenly Father that the missionaries could teach her brother so he could get baptized and now they are two members in their family. They are so sweet and humble. I am so incredibly happy for him! He is a rockstar. He told us after his baptism that this is just the beginning. That`s exactly what this is. It`s just the start of his new life! This week he`ll get the preisthood too! Thank you to Nate and the Greg Olsen gang, for the GO prints. I gave him the one that is "Light of the World". He loved it! We`re going to find a place to put it up in their house this week. I`ll be sure to send you a picture! :) Thank you SO much. 

Other than that, I can`t think of anything better that happened this week. We found out our changes today... or lack thereof. Haha we`ll be staying here for another transfer! Woohoo! I couldn`t ask for a better companion, ward, pensionista, hot shower... I never want to leave. 

I love you all and pray for you everyday! I hope you all have a wonderful Valentine`s day! Hope you know how much I love you!! 

Love,

Hermana Nelson

You Know You're a Sister Missionary in Cusco When...

This week, I thought it was about time for another one of these...

You know you´re a Sister Missionary in Cusco when...

1. You don´t mind at all walking down the busiest street in Cusco on a Saturday morning... because you get to see all the kittens and puppies they sell on the street! (My comp had to hold me back when I saw tiny cages with 10 little kittens, or when people were throwing guinea pigs in a giant plastic BAG!! ugh.) Oh by the way I ate guinea pig for the first time. YUM!

2. It´s normal to see people (and when I say people, I mean gypsies) trowing fire in the street, kids doing kartwheels, a kid doing cool tricks with a soccer ball for money... but it´s a little more shocking when clowns start chasing in the street! I might have screamed. It was scary.

3. You make the most of your 30 minute excercise in the morning with a little INSANITY!! Don´t ask me how I got a hold of a (maybe illegal) copy. We´re getting so buff.

That´s all for this week! Many more amazing things happened this week! Our investigator Fabian is getting baptized this Saturday! He is a rockstar! He loves the book of mormon and reads it everyday! He has osteoporosis and is in his bed most of the day... he lives with his sister who is a member, and kind of negative about life. I have seen how the gospel is bringing joy and hope to his life like he has never experienced before. 

He had his interview for his baptism this past week. We decided to go to the church early to teach something before his interview. While in the taxi with  him and his to go to the church, Hermana Thompson and I realized that we didn´t have keys to the church, our District leader didn´t have keys to the church... Fabian sure didn´t have the keys. Oh gosh. I have never prayed harder than in that 5 min taxi ride that by some chance the doors would be open. Well, halelujah, by some miracle and blessing from the Lord, there happened to be a guy from the stake there, and he was just about to leave! If we had not gone early, it wouldn´t have been open. It was another tender mercy I witnessed this week. So grateful!

Side note, our gospel principles teacher just had a baby last week. When we stopped by to visit her, I asked if she´d like us to get someone else to teach the class this sunday, EXPECTING her to say of course! Well, nope. She came to church with that 6 day old baby, bore her testimony, and taught that class! Woah. Peruvian women are strong! She taught pretty much the whole class until her husband came knocking on the window "uh honey, the baby is crying"... haha we had to take over for a little bit as she calmed her baby down. But seriously, I was so impressed. 

Yesterday was Fast Sunday, which means testimony meeting! My fav! One testimony in particular stuck out to me. He said something along the lines of, "If I am struggling, I have to go to the Lord; If my daughter is sick, I have to go to the Lord; If my job isn´t going well, I have to go to the Lord... I have to go to the Lord." (it sounds better in spanish "Tengo que ir al Señor") I loved this message. In all things, we have to go to the Lord. He will help us. We can go to him through reading our scriptures daily, praying, and going to church every week. As a missionary, I give lots of committments everyday. Well, my dear family, today I would like to give you a committment. I end my mission in just over a year now, and I would like invite you all to read the book of mormon again by the time I come home in February 2015. Do it personally, as a family, whatever you´d like. But read it! I know that it will change your life. It will bring blessing you didn´t know you needed. I know that if we go to the Lord in all things, through His gospel, He will support us in our trials and give us hope to press forward.

Send more pics and videos! Love them all!!! I love you all so much. I pray for you everyday! 

Love, 

Hermana Nelson

Hola Hermanas :)

Family! Before I send you my email, I thought you might think this is cool. This is a lady and her daughter, we have been teaching... a friend of a member. She has cancer and just left for Lima to get radiotherapy... for a month! We were so sad to see her go because they have been progressing so well, but we decided to send the missionaries in Lima to her while she´s there for a month. She just sent me this email this past week. It looks like the missionaries found her! One of those little joys of the mission... my comp just started crying when she saw these pictures. They are so sweet and have incredible desires to learn more and be closer to God. AH.... I love being a missionary!

Estimadas hermanas:

Reciban un afectuoso saludo desde Lima, les comento que mi mamá ha estado con malestares toda esta semana pero la buena noticia es que los hermanos de Lima se comunicaron con nosotras el día jueves 30 de enero, y el sábado 1 de febrero nos visitaron a nuestra casa,  y el domingo 2 nos llevaron a la capilla del barrio de Limatambo en San Isidro, los hermanos fueron muy amables con nosotras. Mi mamá iniciará su radioterapia este martes 4 de febrero sé que todo irá bien gracias a Dios. Por otro lado aqui en Lima está haciendo mucha calor, les envio las fotos que mi mamá y yo nos tomamos con  los elderes y otras fotos que tomé cuando fui a pasear con mi papá por la playa (mi mamá hasta ahora no pudo salir a pasear por que necesita descansar mucho), me encanta la maravillosa creación de nuestro padre celestial.

Las queremos y extrañamos mucho

Gracias por todo

Un fuerte abrazo

Dora :)