Pics! No Mas!

Lima. I went here again and I am officially legal! This was a member
that helped me out.

talent show. I was a drunk for the show :)

Cat. Candy is her name and we are literally best friends. she loves me.

In His Hands

This week was full of so many little miracles. They say as
missionaries we are instruments in the Lord`s hands. It`s something we
constantly strive to do and pray to be better at, but this week I
truly felt like we were instruments in His hands. Here are a few
stories from the week:

One evidence of this was an experience we had with a reference, Jimmy,
which we recieved from the Zone Leaders. They contacted a taxi driver
in the terminal here in Puerto and passed on the reference to us about
2 weeks ago. Well, after many phone calls to Jimmy, many failed
attempts looking for his house, ward boundary problems, etc. we
finally found his house! Yet, we didn`t find Jimmy, we found his wife,
Lida. We made an appointment to visit her the next day. In that
appointment with her, I felt the spirit so strongly. She just
expressed very honestly to us how incredibly sad she felt in that
moment, like a deep remorse for having kept following Christ in her
life as she was following as a child. She offered the most powerful
prayer I have ever heard-- a prayer that was so deep from her heart.
She cried as she expressed all her heartache and guilt to her Father
in Heaven. After her prayer, she told how willing she is to come back
and learn of Christ again because she knows it will bring her true
happiness. She explained to us that she usually prays everynight, but
not for a long time has she offered a real prayer like that. To me
that was a true prayer. I could feel so strongly that she was
literally speaking with her Heavenly Father.

Another reference we recieved this week is actually the daughter of a
reference we gave to the Zone Leaders. Ha, so it came right back to
us. Her name is Fanny. Are you done laughing? Okay, good. Fanny lives
in very humble circumstances and is a single mother of 2 young
children at home and two older children. After we said a prayer with
her, she just expressed to us her gratitude that we had come to her
house. She said her whole family has chosen a religion, but she hasn`t
yet chosen to go to church. She expressed a lot of problems she is
having in her family... ah my heart broke for her. I know that she
too, needs the message of the gospel in her life right now.

One more story. A young girl named Marìa. She is 15 and has a really
rough family story. Honestly I don`t even know what has happened and
how she`s feeling about it all right now, but as we taught her
yesterday, I felt incredibly overwhelmed with love for her. She hardly
said anything, but I was fight back tears as I expressed to her how
much her Heavenly Father loves her and wants to hear from her through
prayer. I could feel the pain she was going through and then feel the
love that Heavenly Father has for her. It was an incredible feeling.

I know that we all have experiences where we have been instruments in
the hands of the Lord. I am so grateful for the trust the Lord has in
us as missionaries to help His children here. I feel way to blessed
this week from all that we saw and felt. I know that this is the
Lord`s work and he working through us to help his children return to
Him one day.

I would love for each of you to send me a story about when you felt
like you were an instrument in the hand`s of the Lord.

I love you so much and praying for you daily!

Con MUCHO amor,

Hermana Nelson

Matrimonio.

Theme of the week, MARRIAGE. What? Well, everyone in Peru seems to not care much about being married... like 40 years go by, 6 kids, and they say "Well, we still need to get to know each other". So we`re working on that a lot right now, especially with one couple, Jasmina and Jersey. Jasmina is a less active member and Jersey is not a member yet. They are such a wonderful family! Yesterday we had a great lesson with them about goals to help prepare them for marriage. I can see their desires growing. I felt the spirit very strongly last night with them as another couple from the ward bore their testimonies of the happiness they feel from just keeping the commandments and the happiness and change it has brought to their family. I could even see it in Jersey`s face as he expressed his feelings... he said he was just taking it all in and really thinking about what he wants to change in his life. He made the goal this week to stop drinking and smoking. I am so proud of them and so excited for them! Hermana Condie and I know they are going to be married and baptized soon. (unfortunately Peru makes is really difficult to make that happen legally). 

 

The work is going really well here and we are seeing little miracles as we follow the spirit more.

Love you all so much! THank you for all the birthday wishes! Thank you for the letters and packages Natalie, Megan, and Mom! I felt very loved this week!!

Lvoe you tons,

Hermana Nelson

I Guess You Could Say I'm Feeling 22

Ah! Such a fun surprise in my inbox today!!!! THANK YOU!!! I LOVED the pictures... everyone is getting so big! ... especially you, Nate, or maybe it`s just the hair? ;) No but seriously, I can`t even believe how big the little girls are! Hailey looks so much like baby Megan. crazy. I have such a hot family! Congrats. The video you guys sent was hilarious!! hahaha THANK YOU! I`m glad to see you guys can still pretend to have fun without me. And that you`re not too awkward yet. Seriously that was such a fun surprise! Thank you, I feel very loved and special today. 

Puerto is amazing as always. We are seeing really slow, yet steady progress. Things are picking up in the branch, it`s just like 10 times slower than Cusco, but it`s motivating to work harder. It`s giving me a very different perspective on the work.

My Comp, Hermana Condie, I haven`t really talked a lot about her, but she is so great! She is another American sister and just finished her training. She is super excited about the work, obedient and works really hard. We get along super great! I`m so grateful for her. She is a great example for me... has a really strong testimony.

Something funny that I am learning about Peruvians is their health advice. Here`s just a few reasons that Peruvians think you might be sick (vomiting... etc.):

1. You`re drinking cold water

2. You use fan in your room

3. The temperature dropped 3 degrees

4. There's dust here

5. You don`t eat enough ("here`s another MOUNTAIN of rice")

Solutions?

1. Drink Herbal tea... like 80 times a day

2. Don`t go outside

3. Don`t use a fan in your room (that`s 1,000 degrees at night!!!!)

I love Peru more and more everyday haha. Thank you again so much for the Birthday wishes! I really have the greatest family ever! Praying for you as always!

Con MUCHO amor,

Hermana Nelson

P.S. God bless america. We celebrated with watermelon and lemonade!