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!

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... 

This Place is Hot Hot Hot

It was an incredible week. I can´t really say much more than that!
Here´s just one of the cool stories from the week:

Last week we met a less active for the first time who ended up giving
us two references. One of the references is a family of 3 (mom, and
two sons). She was very excited to talk to us because she wants her
sons to get involved in a church and she herself wants to learn more.
We visited her last week and invited them to church. Because she works
on Sundays, only her sons were able to come. As we sat in Sacrament
meeting listening to testimonies, her 13 year old son Victor asked me
what was going on. I explained to him that the first sunday of every
month whoever wants to can share their testimony about what they
believe. Well, I wasn´t expecting him to do what he did. He walked
right up there at the last minute of the meeting and shared a strong
testimony of Jesus Christ. I was so touched by his desires to share
what he believed without any fear. Later in Elders Quorum/Young Men´s
the Elders were asking for volunteers to help them do visits that
week. Victor was the first to raise his hand! Later that day he
accompanied the Elders to visit a family all with his Book of Mormon
and Bible in hand! It´s truly touching to see the natural desires he
has to serve the Lord and to share what he believes with everyone! He
will make a great missionary one day!

Thank you for all you are doing to spread the gospel and strengthen
your own families! I know you are all incredible examples for others
and for ME!

Love you!

Hermana Nelson

Pics: It´s really hot here. Even the cats think it´s hot.

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!