No Hats for you, and a broken nose for your companion

Dear Family of mine,

 

E Packer's name is Brent Logan Packer (goes by Logan) and his parent's names are Brent and Tonya Packer!! SO...there ya go! They live in Kaysville, right over by Garybrook neighborhood by burton lane!!

 

Wow, looks like everyone has grown like 4 inches since I left...Tyler, How tall are you?!?! Emma, congrats!!!!! (She's finally taller than mom)  :) Addie, where are you at on mom? ;) Dad, I promise I will come back taller than you, even if it kills me!! ;) You guys are growing like crazy....

 

The weather here has been pretty crazy too!! We haven't had like a legit "warm streak", the most we got was like 3 days of 60's, then it dips back down to 40's and rainy, then 60's and rainy and windy....it's nuts, there is never a normal day. I'm really excited for the summer too, but I've heard it gets really hot especially because of the humidity, so maybe I'm just excited for the winter again ;)

 

This week was good! The conference with E Perry last monday was AWESOME!!! Then our district meeting on Tuesday was good too. We went on exchange on Tuesday after DM, so E Drewes (my last district leader) came to Motown with E Packer and I!! It was kind of a rainy day, so we were only able to get into one home for a lesson before soccer, but soccer was still fun. ;) Unfortunately, that was the last time I'll get to play soccer in Motown :( The gym is all decorated for a wedding this week, and then next week it's all decorated for mormon prom, curses!!

 

 The Sisters Ericksen and Smedley, the motown sisters, got in a car crash on tuesday night, so on wednesday afternoon, after we exchanged back, we went to do mormon.org time, and after that, we had to give the sisters our car, cause their area is huge, and we don't really need a car. I didn't really care, but my companions were pretty ticked haha! I survived all winter without a car, and I prefer to walk anyways. We didn't even need it ;) But guess what I found out during mormon.org time!!! I can make pass along cards with my name and face on them!! How cool is that!??! Anyways, by the time we got home from helping the sisters, we were only able to get two lessons in for the night...

 

On thursday we went down to the doctor in North Arlington, and you have to drive through Newark (E packer's last area) to get there. E Packer knew of a hat stand that you could buy a sweet New Jersey snapback hat for like 5 bucks, so we went to stop there on the way home. There wasn't any parking though, so E Lattuga pulled up on a yellow striped spot next to the curb, and E packer and i were just gonna run out really quick and grab a hat a run back. But there was a cop right behind E Lattuga, so right when we were almost to the hat stand, the cop shouted through his megaphone "you can't park there, get movin!" and so E Lattuga had to drive. E Packer and I took off running after him, and he drove as slow as he could, so we were still within sight and sound of eachother, and we just tried to catch up haha!! Finally we got to a point where we could run across the road and catch E Lattuga, and there were all sorts of crazy people shouting at us and stuff, it was quite the adventure! Needless to say, I still don't have a New Jersey hat...;)

 

Friday was Zone Conference, and it was soooo good!!!!! Pres. Jeppson gave an amazing training on the Atonement, it made all of us cry haha! I don't have my notes with me, but I'll put some stuff in the next letter about it!!! I love going to Zone conferences, I always get so much revelation. It's awesome.

 

Saturdays are usually pretty tough because if the weather is good everyone is working until the night, and if the weather is bad, people congregate with their families and don't let the missionaries in. So we walked for alot on Saturday. We had correlation too, which is still ineffective...but after that, they asked us to help set up for the wedding that's taking place this friday. So we did because it was still too early for anyone to be home from work. It was kinda weird setting up for a wedding....everyone looked stressed except for us haha!! After that, we taught Obdeli, who is still the coolest man I've ever met!!!! We were actually able to share the because of him video with Obdeli and his nonmember brother, Warner, who is also really really really cool, and I'm convinced he would get baptized, he just doesn't have time because of college and work. But that was a really cool lesson!! Then we taught Carla and Josue, the honduranian members that we ran into last week!! They came to church again and they're gonna fit into the branch just perfectly! The only problem is with Josue. He's 14, and he only speaks spanish, so he's basically our only full spanish youth. All the other youth speak better english than spanish, and there's only one really close to his age, and that one barely speaks spanish at all!! So we are his friends right now, and we're working on that haha!!

 

Here's a funny story about saturday night though. We got home, and I was in the bathroom getting ready for bed, and E Packer was trying to use E Lattuga's abroller. He had never used one before, so he didn't know what he was doing, so he was trying to use it on his toes. But he rolled the thing too far back, and slammed forward on his face and broke his nose hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!!! Then he had to give a talk on sunday and I couldn't help but laugh when he first got up because his nose was so off center!!!!!! It was soooo funnY!!!!!!!!!!!  (As a side note, Elder Packer ended up having surgery to fix the broken nose!)

 

Sunday was good too. We went to church...ate lunch....walked around trying to find a couple people, then went to Belia's for dinner. We had a really good lesson with the Gomez family and Lila's family that were both there on how to be a missionary. We shared d and c 18, and then did a contacting role play, and then they had to come contact us. It was really fun and everyone loved it! Then we went home and went to bed and now here I am ;)

 

This week I really feel like I've learned the value of hard work and diligence. I love my companions, but sometimes I don't think they work very hard. Alot of the times I'm the only one doing anything productive, whether it's washing all the dishes and trying to keep the house clean, or motivating us to leave and get out and actually do missionary work, so I'm grateful that you guys taught me that!!!

 

Have a great week guys, I love yoU!! :)

 

Love,

Elder Tanner Nelson

Swimming in the Rain and a visit from an Apostle

Dear Family,

 

Mom, if you have any cool renditions of church hymns or something that you could send sometime...that'd be sweet :) I got a way nice keyboard from the Morales family, and E Packer is teaching me some good stuff haha!!

 

E Packer has kinda got me into techno music....when people we teach find out that he was a DJ before the mission, they look up his stuff. And it's soooo good. Look up DJ Arctica on youtube or soundcloud.com!! He's got a record label for one of his songs!!!!

 

This week was crazy. Tuesday we had an exchange with the zone leaders, and I went with E Newman (he's from Syracuse!!) to Ledgewood. It DUMPED rain that day. Remember that picture from the MTC of when we played volleyball in the rain? Yeah, it rained hard like that. Except this time we were in our nice clothes haha! We were driving around in the rain, and then we got to a house that we were going to try by, and it started raining harder. So we got out of the car and sprinted up these waterfalls running down the stairs and we got so soaked, and the guy wasn't even home!! So we swam back down the stairs and jumped into the car. We were soaked for the rest of the day haha!! But it was still fun!!

 

Wednesday we exchanged back, and after that we went to help some members set up a clothing drive. Our stake did a clothing drive where people just donated clothes and things they didn't need/use so that other people could come and just get a bunch of stuff for free. We helped a member get a few things over there and then set it out, and then the people in charge said we could go through everything and see if there were some things we wanted. So I got a pair of proselyting shoes (kindof a combination of old man sneakers and sperry topsiders) and a couple of t-shirts. After that, we walked around for a long time, just trying to get in to people's houses. We were only able to teach one lesson that day, not because we didn't try, we were seriously walking ALL DAY!!! But the lesson that we did teach was really good. This lady in our ward, Patricia, has been less active for about 3 months because she hurt her leg really bad by slipping on the ice. So she's asked us and the Maughans to come and do like a FHE with her every week. She has a son who is like 8 months younger than me who has been less active for almost 3 years-ever since his older brother died. His name is Nick. I've shared a few lessons with him, and I really like him!! He's a really really great kid, and he's way cool!! But Patricia wanted Nick to be involved in these FHE's, so when we got there, Nick wasn't there, and we watched "only a stonecutter" with Patricia, but nick came about 30 mins later, and we watched the Because of HIm video, and it was waaaay powerful!!!!!! I love Nick, and I could tell he felt the spirit!!! Hopefully we'll be able to get him to church!!!

 

Thursday we taught several lessons, and two of them were the Because of HIm video haha! We shared that alot, but it was soo powerful every time!! That is one of my favorite three minute long videos about Jesus ever!! ;) Our last stop was the Chiviliu's, but right when we got there, the AP's called me and asked if I could help them go give a blessing to a sister missionary in another area. So I left and my comps stayed, and it was a really cool experience!! A sister training leader had been going through a hard time, and although she didn't say anything about what she was going through, her blessing was awesome!!! God loves all His children and His work goes  forward to bless every single one of them through the Priesthood!!!

 

Friday we taught several lessons as well. We have also been teaching the Restoration alot to members to help them relearn the basic principles of the gospell, and it's amazing to me how much some of these converts have learned and grown through the gospel IF  they've rooted themselves and learned the gospel through their efforts. On the flip side, it's amazing to me to see how many of these converts who haven't really understood the purpose of the gospel don't even know who Joseph Smith is...As a part of the hispanic culture, church is just something you do. Everyone believes in Jesus, and everyone has a "church" to go to, and so some people don't understand the importance of going to THE ONLY TRUE CHURCH, so that's the part that we are trying to bring to all the members.

 

Saturday we had a really cool experience. We were walking down the street, and this kid on a bike stopped us and asked where the church was. We started talking to him, and found out that his name was Josue, and he was a 14 year old boy that moved here with his mom 3 or 4 months ago. They were members, they just hadn't known where the church was or any members! So we went by to visit them later that night and they are so cool!!!! Josue does BMX, likes boy scouts, and wants to go to church, and his mom, Carla, is waaaaay strong in the gospel!!! We got them to church the next day!!

 

Easter sunday was good too!! The sister missionaries made abranch choir that we all have to sing in, and we sung "I know that my Redeemer lives" in spanish. It was really cool!! There was also a really good talk given by Hno Morales about being humble like the savior. It was really good! After church we had two dinner appointments...it was alot of food...but we watched the Because of HIm video again haha! Something that stuck out to me from that was that because the Savior suffered, died, and resurrected for us, there are no ends. You can't ever sin too much, that the Savior won't forgive you if you truly repent. You can't ever feel too much pain, that the Savior doesn't know how to help you get through it. With Jesus Christ, not even death is an end. Rather, it is a new beginning.

 

Today Elder L. Tom Perry is here in NJ!! So he's giving a special conference to all the missionaries!! IT's gonna be sooooo awesome!!!!! Everyone looks great at home!! Tyler, I'm diggin the white tux, you stud!!!! Emma, did you die your hair? Looks great!! Addie, you remind me of toothless....;) Love you guys!!! Send me pictures of the house!!! I've heard it's pretty cool! ;)

 

Love,

Elder Tanner Nelson

Jersey drama and some piano playing

Dear Family,

Yes I did indeed get the pictures!!! Tyler, you tool ;) lovin' the stache bro ;) Everyone is looking well and sounds like fun moving allllll the time!!!!!!!!

Real quick, for the face norwex rag, I don't need to buy facewash, do I? Also, I have 9 puffs of asmonex left, so if I could get some soon, that would be swell :)

Everything is well in Motown!!! The weather is great, the companions are sweet, the numbers are up! Last Monday after p-day, we taught three lessons to two less actives and an active member. Tuesday, we had our first district meeting. E Lattuga is the DL right now. Before dm, he had us do a district language study, which was the first time I've ever done that, but it was kinda fuN! We all met as a district an hour before DM, and we just talked about principles of Spanish we didn't understand and all helped eachother and learned a song! I'm actually really grateful for where my Spanish is at right now, I'm really pleased. I can communicate just about anything that I want to, and my accent isn't terrible! I actually have gotten several compliments for how good my Spanish is, and how young I am in the mission, so that made me feel good ;) After DM we ran home, taught Carlos the member and another less active family before going to soccer. I really do enjoy playing soccer. I hope they play it in every area I go to. I scored the first goal of the night, with Obdeli workin with me!! ;) It's really fun to see everyone go at it in the church gym, it's almost as good as all the little girls on Emma's birthday ;)

We taught Obdeli on Wednesday, and let me tell ya, Obdeli is still THE COOLEST guy I have ever met. He's so chill, and understanding, and he's a way good team up!!!! But remember how I told you last week that E Lattuga was known for being a flirt? Yeah...so Obdeli told me (in secret) that E Lattuga sent Laura (member, Obdeli's girlfriend) flowers right before he came ....so...that's awkward....also Laura broke up with Obdeli for no reason apparently?? It's a weird situation...Jersey Drama ;) I'm not sure if the right thing to do right now would be to talk to E Lattuga? Because he is kind of a flirt, but I don't think he would do something like that from talking to him, but he might? I dunno, if it turns out to be a problem, I'll take action haha! Right now we are preparing Obdeli to go do baptisms for the dead!!! He is still my most solid recent convert ;)

 Thursday was a really good day. We taught Marvin, our investigator, and committed him to a date of April 27!! He accepted, but we have to push it back a week because he didn't come to church yesterday :/ he is solid though! He is a 17 year old boy that E Diaz and I found. He's way good at soccer, and he's way way way prepared!!! He's gonna be my one that got away if we don't get him baptized...we also taught Donaldo, our media referral, and committed him with a baptismal date of May 18. He needs to come to church too, but I think he'll be ready. Then we went to Lila's house (dry member)and she gave us a piece of pizza, then we went to the Chiviliu's and they fed us baleadas. They are soooo good. Look em up!!! Classic honduranian delights!!!

On Friday we taught a few more member lessons, then at night we had our coordination meeting with the branch mission leader. It was NO BUENO. Sis. Ericksen, the sister from Layton here, is super duper ambitious, bold/overbearing, really really really strongwilled and stubborn....and our branch mission leader still doesn't really understand the purpose of these meetings so he just goes off on story telling show and tell time...anyways, he said something, and then Sis. Ericksen went on this rant about how it wasn't a part of our purpose as missionaries (when it totally was) and had this freak out and was really rude and then we ended up being late to our house and everyone was mad and frustrated, and E Lattuga had to deal with the issue because he's DL and so it's just been drama for the past few days...crazy stuff. This is worse than high school.

Even with all this drama though, I wanna be a DL so bad!!! Not even just to say i'm in charge, I just want to have some responsibility and be in a better position to help the missionaries around me. I really really really really wanna be a DL.

 On Saturday, the weather was BEAUTIFUL. It's starting to turn into spring, so we just wear short sleeve shirts, and I wish I had muscles to show off, but it still feels so good!!! E Lattuga had a DL council meeting, so before that we went to the Morristown Diner, and I didn't know what to get, so I made a hasty decision and got a big bowl of oatmeal with a blueberry muffin. It was alright, but a wasted opportunity at a diner. I hate quick decisions ;) We went over to the Morales, and they gave us an amazing berry cobbler with vanilla ice cream. We've been teaching all of our members the PMG lessons from the beginning, and so that's what we taught them. Hna Morales' mom is in from Guatemala, and she's hardcore catholic, but she joined in the lesson, and we had a lesson on steroids with her and the spirit, it was soooo cool!!! There was lots of testimony, and we committed her to read the intro and pray about it. It was sweet.

 

 Sunday was good. But all three of us just about fell asleep several times. We've all been so tired!! We had to get up and get out of Elder's quorum for a few minutes, it was bad haha! Even though I can understand Spanish, it's hard for me to stay awake just listening to it ;) After church, the only lesson we were able to teach was at Belia's house. They also fed us really good pasta and steak and the amazing mozzarella cheese quesadillas. It's always a good time over there.

And here I am, today, Monday, on the computer. Guess what!! E packer is teaching us how to play the piano, and my skills are starting to come back!! ;) I'm gonna start learning how to play hymns on this keyboard the Morales are giving me today, and e packer has already taught me this way sweet song and we made up a sweet jam last week! Our p-day afternoons now consist of going to the church, pulling three pianos into the gym, and playing for an hour or two.  (As a music mom....can I just say that I LOVED hearing this??) :)

Anyways, good luck finishing the house, it sounds crazy haha!! Love you guys, have a great week!! :)

Love,

Elder Tanner Nelson

A fabulous Trio

Dear Family,

This past week was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!! I love my trio, it's so bomb!!! My companions are E Lattuga and E Packer. E Lattuga has been out for 21 months, and has actually served in Motown before. I was worried about getting him as a comp because he's been emergency transfered a few times for flirting and stuff like that, and he's really well remembered around here as kind of a flirt by the members too, but they all love him! And so do I!!! He's way cool, and from Las Vegas!!! E Packer is so sweet. He's only 1 transfer older than me, and guess what? He's from Kaysville, Utah. Wanna know what's crazier? We share the same friends, but we've never met before. Like he's way good friends with Trevor Fry, Austin Seegmiller, Collin Pace, pretty much all my junior high friends!!!!!! Is that crazy, or what?!?!?!!?!?! He was a DJ before the mish, and so he's got a keyboard, and basically just busts out these really really cool versions of hymns and stuff. He's teaching me and E Lattuga how to play a little bit. It's awesome. Besides all that, we all get along really really well!! We have very similar personalities, and I've decided that I wouldn't mind staying in Motown for longer in this companionship haha! We joke around alot, and we're always laughing and having fun, but we are being obedient and doing what we're supposed to and teaching the people, which is important. This will probably be the best transfer of my mission so far!!

 Tuesday, the only thing we did was get them unpacked and played soccer. Which was fun. Wednesday, we had Zone Training Meeting, where our zone leaders trained and introduced the new monthly focus, which is consecration. April month is consecration month :) One quote that I really like from I think it's E Maxwell, is "consecration to the Lord is the only surrender that is actually a victory." It's really cool, because the Lord really can make more out of our lives than we ever could! These past few days we've been writing up "consecration contracts" where we commit to be more consecrated and obedient missionaries.

Aside from that, we taught an investigator of ours, Beatriz and Grisel, that E Lattuga actually found when he was first here! It was cool because they remembered who he was, even after a year haha! We have seen them twice this week, and they are open to hearing the message, but it's hard to teach them because Grisel (beatriz' daughter) has two twin girls who are 11 months old, so they just cause chaos and distract everyone...We also taught Marvin, an investigator that E Diaz and I found a few weeks ago! He's 17 and still in high school, but he's very promising! I think he could get baptized this transfer!!! We taught him the Plan of Salvation, and then at the end, we committed him with a baptismal date of April 27! And.....he accepted!!!!!!! He just needs to come to church, but he is so prepared, he understands so much, and he prays the RIGHT way every time since we taught him how!!!!!!! He even included in his prayer the question of if the things we had taught him were true!!!!!!! I'm really excited for him. He comes and plays soccer with us, and he's really good.

Thursday and Friday were days that we just taught a few member lessons, and got everyone reacquainted with E lattuga and just acquainted with E Packer. The weather here is so weird though. It had been great up until Friday, and then friday and part of saturday it rained...

But this weekend was awesome, because it was conference weekend!!!!! General Conference is basically like the superbowl for missionaries. We love it. So much. I loved all the talks!!!!! Also, as a mission, after the first session on saturday we started a mission-wide fast to find families and whatever other personal things we wanted to fast for! So after the first session on saturday, we went to subway with a few other elders and sisters to have our last supper, and guess how much I ate? I ate a footlong, which I bought with subway points, and then another 6 inch, and then a pear. I ate a TON of food. And I prolly could have eaten more...is that gross? ;)   But then we fasted until after the first session on sunday, and I felt fine pretty much that whole time! That was my first full 24+ hour fast! After the first session on sunday, all the branch members made a bunch of food and we just pigged out with the branch haha!

To watch conference, we went to the church. They had it in english in the chapel, and spanish in a different room, but we just watched it all in english. You gotta get everything you can out of conference, and I'm not quite perfect in spanish yet! ;) But it was really good. I felt like an overall theme of the conference was ways to protect against satans temptations and trusting the lord enough to be obedient. It was really cool to see the emphasis of families as well, I felt like alot of people mentioned eternal families, and that's a really cool principle that is found in the church that no one else has! That families can be together forever, and I know that's true!! Through the Atonement and gospel of Jesus Christ, we can live forever as a family, and with our Heavenly Father :) And that is just pure awesome :)

I finished the BoM in my studies yesterday, and I can promise you that the BoM is true!!!! I'm starting to study the New Testament now, and I'm excited!! I would exhort you all (in the words of Moroni) to do what they said in conference and study Preach My Gospel. Because there's tons of stuff in there that can be applicable to daily life as well. I've read several parts that I've totally applied to life in general, not just missionary work!! So it would definitely be smart to start reading ;)

Well...I'm sorry to hear the house is taking alot of work...but i'm glad I don't have to do it!! ;) JK, good luck with the house and school and soccer and everything!! YOU GUYS ARE THE BEST FAMILY EVER!! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!

Love,

Elder Tanner Nelson

Pictures are of me and my compas. E Packer is the tall ginger and e lattuga is the short one :)