'Nothing much', and an awesome Christmas message….

When I say Skype is truly just about the best invention ever, I'm not kidding!  Nothing does a mothers heart so good as talking to her missionary son and hear him so happy!  What a blessing to be able to spend time talking with him -  the whole family plus 2 gathered around for nearly an hour and a half and had a great visit.  The time went far too quickly, but we truly loved every last minute of it.  

Dear Mom and Family,

It was really good to talk to all of you too!! Yes, I felt really homesick after haha! But I'm alright now! It took a few days but it was really good to see all of you, even though it doesn't feel like it's been almost 4 months! It's great to hear everyone is doing well! :)

Not much happened last week...We had our zone christmas party last P Day, and at the end, we did a white elephant gift exchange. I got a duck dynasty christmas hat haha! It's pretty awesome! Christmas eve, we had District Meeting, and then later that night we had dinner at a members house. Christmas, we went to the Morales' house in the morning for breakfast tomales and "caliente", a really good hot fruit drink thats kinda like apple cider, but I like it better! After that we just went back to the apartment and played basketball on the little hoop you sent and made cookies to take to a few members, rather than interrupt family parties on the holidays. The Morales' invited us back for an early dinner at about 3:30, and that was really good!! It was meat, rice, and veggies. They made this salsa out of chiltepe peppers, you can only get them from guatemala, they are waaayyyy hotter than jabaneros!!! It was really good! But never eat the peppers alone, they're so hot!!! After that, we made our way over to the Chiviliu's for our skype call. And the rest is history. ;) Carlos, the member I've told you about, got us christmas presents! E Jellen is his favorite, and because he's leaving, he bought him some really expensive usher cologne and body wash. He bought me a towel. hahahaha!! I don't really care, I just thought it was funny ;)

But after christmas it was just a regular slow week...I had an exchange with E Guijarro, from Mexico City, on friday and saturday, that was fun! We got to go give another blessing of health to Judith on friday night, she was in the hospital for a heart problem I think she said, and she felt better after the blessing.

I'm sorry, but this week really wasn't that interesting...we didn't have any super spectacular events going on or anything ;) The thing that has stuck out to me this week was just the realization of how much Jesus Christ has done for all of us and how much He love us. This has been a weird Christmas, I didn't expect to be here last year, but that is something that has come to me as I've studied Christ's life and listened to talks and all sorts of stuff this month. I know that Jesus loves all of us, and that is why I am out here as a missionary, to share that love :)

Love you guys!! Have a great week!! :)

So…..I have to preface this next one with some background….

The Sunday before Christmas, in our church meeting - it's typically inspired music and messages related to Christ and Christmas.  This year, unbeknownst to any of us, our sweet choir director had contacted all the missionaries serving from our ward and had them jot down their thoughts - a short little message about Christmas.  Then, in between the musical numbers, those messages were read from the pulpit.  It truly was a powerful meeting.  Emotions were close to the surface for many that day - not just the families of those missionaries, but the whole ward.  In a way I can't really explain, it brought a feeling of unity, and a powerful reminder of the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  There were more tear filled eyes than dry that day.  It was beautiful.   Here is the letter from Tanner…

November 18, 2013

The birth of our Savior was the most amazing thing that our God could have given us. A lot of times I think we take that for granted; that on that Holy Night, a child was born. A child who would lead a PERFECT life, a child who would teach us to return to our Heavenly Father, a child who would suffer for our sins, suffer for our temptations, and suffer for our afflictions, all so that He would know how to best help us. That night, a Savior was born, and I think it was no coincidence that a new star shined in the heavens, because a new light was born on earth; a light to lead us, guide us, and show us the way. How amazing it would have been to have been a shepherd and heard the angel and seen the Christ child!! What an amazing gift, and what an amazing night.

I know that Christ was put here to lead us back to our Heavenly Father and to help us find peace in this troubled world and there was none other who could have qualified for that same responsibility.  Jesus Christ is our older brother, our Savior, our Advocate, and our best friend. We can never understand Him perfectly, but He understands us, and that is a gift that we should cherish more than anything else.

Elder Nelson

Haircuts, 100 days, Batman, and M&M's

Dear Mom and Family,

 

Yes I got asmonex last wednesday, and we do have the advent calendars! It's safe to send stuff to the apartment!

 

As for the Book of Mormons....I dunno...haha! You could send your testimonies and I could translate them and write them in? or you could translate them? A lot of the people out hear can't read very well, if at all, and most don't speak but very little english...

 

Also, is my Social Security Card at home? I'm not sure if I brought it or not....and I can't find my passport…(um…..that's not good) I'm going to keep looking, but I'm not sure where I put it, so I'll keep you posted there too!

 

I need your guys' skype username and whatever other info I need to call you. We are going to a members house, I'm not sure what time yet, but I will know for sure by next monday. But I need your skype on monday so that I can call you!

 

As for things I need, just a USB cord in the next envelope/package to charge my ipod...and I think that's it...

 

My haircut went awesome!!! I couldn't get the back, so I gave myself a mullet ;) unintentionally, but it looked just like I remembered it ;) Then I had elder Jellen come in and cut the back. It was surprisingly easy, E Jellen has some clippers, so you just set the size and go! He's giving them to me when he leaves! But it looks like a pro cut it ;)

 

Last week was really good! It snowed pretty hard last Tuesday, so they canceled District Meeting and took away driving priviledges. But the driving thing didn't affect us - So we just walked around in the snow on tuesday, but we got 6 lessons, which was awesome!! One of the lessons we taught was to Selena. She is going to get baptized this Sunday if we can meet with her enough and finish teaching everything!!!!!!! So that's way exciting!!!!!!

Wednesday was a big day, I celebrated my 100th day away from home! Holy Cow has it REALLY been that long??? It was a good day, other than the fact that we didn't teach a single lesson haha ;).  We had District meeting with the rest of the zone, which was really good. We did a round robin thing where all 3 district leaders in the zone prepared a 30 min training, and then everyone went to each one in their districts, and we just rotated. E Jellen talked about 1 Nephi 4, and how Nephi was made a promise that he would be guided by God and how he would know that it was God guiding him. Then he made the comparison of our daily planners to the liahona, and that if we are following our plans, we are being led by God because nightly planning should be a spiritual experience. It was really cool!! Elder Taylor, another DL, talked about how our purpose is to share the message of how families can be happy together, and his commitment for us was to take a picture of our families to a lesson and use it to share how families can be together forever. So that's what Elder Jellen and I did on thursday, and we had a few really powerful lessons on why it's important to follow the prophets and have family scripture study and prayer, so that familes can be eternal! The other DL was in charge of role plays, so we just practiced, it was good!

 

 Thursday was a bugger though!  The first place we walked, my coat got snagged on a fence, so now I have a little hole in the sleeve. Things just didn't go right on thursday. Just little things like that were happening all day, but we still got in four lessons! At the end of the day, I realized it wasnt quite as bad as I had thought, but I don't want it to happen again haha!

 

Okay, wanna know something awesome?! The Mars candy factory, the M&M factory is in my zone!!!! It's in Hackettstown NJ, I've been in Hackettstown!!!! I guess the English elders there live right next to it!!!! Is that crazy?! Here's another fun fact, Batman was filmed in Newark. Newark is Gotham City. Elder Jellen showed me a picture of the town hall that's on batman, but it was a picture he took because he served in Newark! Craziness all around!!!!!!  

 

(This was selfie Jason took the day his call came - just to send to Tanner and rub it in while he was still at school)

Friday was awesome, we had this thing called the Jingle with the Jeppsons, where we went to Pres. Jeppson's house and they made us a huge breakfast, and then afterwards we sung some songs, rang some bells, and he talked alittle bit about Christmas. It was really interesting, he focused on the personal worthiness of Mary and Joseph to be able to have the Christ child. It was really cool! We had another lesson with Selena that day, she is remembering lots - IT's awesome!!!

 

Saturday brought us another snow storm that we were supposed to get up to 10 inches before sunday morning. It snowed all day. I like the days it snows here, because it's so much warmer than any other day!! When it's not snowing, it's icy cold, so I prefer the snow haha! But right as we walked out of our apartment on saturday, I totally slipped, just like Charlie Brown, and landed flat on my back. I just laid there for a minute because I realized how funny that probably looked. I now have a bruise on my left bum cheek. But it snowed all day, and we got probably 6 inches of snow. It was enough, and it froze overnight, so they canceled church yesterday.

 

But yesterday was still amazing! We didn't go to chruch, we just stayed home and studied. But all the spanish missionaries were suppposed to put on a choirside last night for members and investigators in all of NJ. The Maughans, our senior couple,, was giving us a ride, and they told us they'd be here way early. So they picked us up with the sisters in our area, and then they realized how early they were. So they took us back to their apartment and fed us so much food! It was awesome, I love the Maughans!!The Maughans are also my favorite because they gave us some almond roca. E Jellen doesn't like almond rocas, so he gave his to me :) happy day :)

 Then we went to the choirside. It was really cooL!!! We sung lots of songs in spanish, and they had several elders and sisters participate in musical numbers! My favorite one was a guitar and ukelele duet, it was so cool haha! But the spirit was strong there, and I could really feel how much God loves everybody there. The choirside was in Union City, which is right next to New York! So I got my first glimpse of the Empire State building and all sorts of skyscrapers! IT was soo cooL!!!

 

We get to actually go to New York for our temple trip on thursday! We're going to the Manhattan temple as a zone, and I'm way excited! We're taking the train to new york, and then the subway from the train station to the temple! It's going to be so awesome!!!  (Seriously. so. Awesome.)

 

But that's all for this week! It felt like it went by way too quickly to be a week!  I hope all continues to go well at home! Love you guys! You're in my prayers!!

 

Love,

Tanner

Snow, personal revelation, and drunk people!

Dear mom and family,

 

Thank you for the asmonex! Haven't got it yet, but I've been out for a week haha ;) I think it should come today! And when I run out, how do I get it from the pharmacy?

 

Christmas, I'm not sure exactly what the plan is...we have to find somewhere so that we can skype, so I'll keep you posted as soon as I know! And it's totally fine with mission rules if Ally comes, so that would be great!

 

Well, sounds like a fantastic week for you guys! Things are going well here! Elder Jellen goes home at the next transfer conference, so my last day with him is January 7, and he flies home on the 8. Less than a month now, and he's freaking out haha!!  He doesn't want to go, and I don't want him to go either! I love him, and the members do too! I think if I was half the missionary Elder Jellen is, I would be satisfied with my lot in life.  And also...I'm scared for when he leaves because the members are so attached, and no one is as good as elder Jellen, so I'm terrified they won't help out at all. ;)  But it'll be a good learning experience for me! ;)

 

So for pictures, I still haven't figured out how I can do that....last time I tried it at the library, it didn't work...I'll bring my camera next week and we'll see if we can get something through :)

 

WInter, We had our first real snow last night!!!!!!!!!!!!!   It snowed and it stuck!!!! I  t started snowing right after we got home from church, and then all the time we were walking in it too!!! It was awesome! But then we woke up today and as soon as we left our apartment to walk to the library, we saw that it was all ice....it's like that big ice storm we had last year in Utah. It's so slick, and everyone here uses buckets of salt on the smallest spots of ice. I think it's ridiculous, kinda insane, but whatever floats their boats. Nobody here likes winter, I think I'm the only one. It's getting cold though! I wear a hat almost everywhere now, and we always have on our gloves, and I have a pair of thermal bottoms that I wear daily too. We're warm as long as we do that!

 

So every month Pres. Jeppson picks a monthly focus topic for all the missionaries. October was faith, November was prayer, and December is Always remember him (Jesus). Our zone and district training meetings branch off of these focuses, and we are encouraged to apply them daily. Zone training meeting is the first tuesday of every month, and the whole zone gets together, and the ZL's give us a training. I LOVE ZONE AND DISTRICT MEETINGS SO MUCH! I always find lots of things that stick out to me!!  And I'm sorry I don't remember everything now, but I wrote it all down, so maybe I'll write a real letter with some stuff in it.  But I remember one part they were talking about receiving personal revelation. We do that by praying about what we need revelation on, right? But we need to do more on our part to receive revelation from God. It is our job to ask God inspired questions, (inspired questions like we ask to our investigators) to find out inspired revelation. We are God's eternigators. So there's a spiritual thought, if you want revelation, come up with a specific, inspired question, then ponder the question in your heart, study it out, and you will receive. "Ask and ye shall receive, seek, and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened up to you.  D&C 4.

 

 On a side note, I was reading a GC talk from April 2012 by Elder Evans of the 70 about missionary work. It was a really good talk!! It talked alot about how sharing this gospel can bring us and others much joy! Something random about that talk, it said you should send missionaries hand written letters haha! I thought that was funny ;)  (Hint taken…..we mailed letters)  (And I'm sure he wouldn't complain if any of you wanted to send a letter either) :)

 

 So this past week, our main focuses have been our investigators, Selena, the 8 year old girl who is getting baptized soon, and Bessie, our new investigator.  Selena has autism, so we've had to find new ways to teach her. I bought a picture book in the MTC, so we've been teaching her very simply with pictures, and we gave her a Book of Mormon Reader to help her read the scriptures. We also made a calendar of things for her to do that we're  giving to her tomorrow, it has daily prayer, her baptism date (Dec. 22), her confirmation date (Dec 29), and other assignments can be wrritten in that we ask her to do. She has a very short attention span, but the picture lessons have really helped her focus and understand. I can't wait til she gets baptized!!

 

Another exciting thing about her making the choice to be baptized is the impact it's having on her mom. Her mom has said before that she has plans of being baptized, just no idea when. She only isn't baptized now because of her husband. They are technically not married, but they live together and he's the father of her kids, it's a pretty common situation here. But after our 2nd meeting with Selena, this is what she said, "You know, the parents are supposed to be good examples for the kids, not the kids for the parents." She told us that she's coming to the point where she has to decide if she will move out, or if she will convince her husband to get married. So she is closer to baptism than we ever thought!!

 

With Bessie, we had our 2nd lesson with her last week. We were going to talk about the plan that Heavenly Father has for us, that we choice to come to earth even though we knew it would be hard, and how we can find peace and happiness in the Atonement if we have faith, repent, and are baptized. We brought Hno Carvajal with us, our branch 2nd counselor. He's a convert of about 12 year's, very rooted in the gospel, and very knowleadgable. But...he likes to talk...which having a member that talks is really good, but he got very off topic alot, and he talked way more than anyone else who was there with us haha! The lesson was still good, I think Bessie got the point of the lesson and she invited us back on thursday for dinner and a lesson, woooo!!! ;) Hno Carvajal at one point talked about the sacrifice that we make as missionaries, leaving our homes, families, and friends for two years. We don't get paid, we do it of our own free will, and we can't talk to home more than once a week through email. They were really impressed by that. I am convinced that Bessie will get baptized within two months, no doubt in my mind. But her mom, Kenia, has sat in on both lessons and participated. She's not really looking for anything out of us, other than to learn with her daughter, but I think when she learned that, it kinda opened up her eyes to see, "you know what, maybe this is something really important." So that was awesome!!!!!

 

 Here's a weird/cool experience! Last night, we were walking to Selena's house to give her a lesson, and we passed a man on the street. We greeted him in spanish, and he was caught off guard and started talking to us. At first he thought we were JW's (Jehovah Witnesses), which unfortunately, is a really common mistake out here...but we established who we are and we went up on his porch to talk with him. His name in Nelson and he's from Honduras. He was a little drunk, but not drunk enough to be completely out of it, and he had a bunch of questions. We talked to him for like 40 mins, in spanglish, and at the end, he gave us hugs, and he accepted a B.O.M. We asked him if he'd read it because it was another testament of JEsus Christ, and he said "Por que no?" why not haha!!! It was really cool! One part where he showed his drunkeness though, he established that because my last name was Nelson, I have roots somewhere in Europe. He 'foretold' that an aunt that I have in Europe will soon communicate with me and change my view on Jesus Christ forever. Kinda spooky. I love drunk people ;)  

 

So the Morristown stake for the past 2 or 3 years has done this thing called the Christmas Creche. They take the gym and set up tons and tons of nativities and stories of Jesus and they open up the church for Fri, Sat, and Sun for anyone to come see. We've been passing out invitations for like a month, it's huge!!! So we went yesterday right after church, and it was so amazing!!!!!!! I wish I would have had my camera with me, but I hadn't realized we were going before we left home. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of different collectors nativities friom all around the world, and it was so beautiful, and they had soft christmas music in the background. I could feel the spirit of Christ there really strongly! We were asked to help for a little while after we went through, and I talked to a few people who weren't members. They said it was the most beautiful, amazing thing they've ever seen. Everyone that went, member and nonmember, investigator and person from the street, felt the spirit there. We weren't allowed to proselyte there, but I think this Creche opened up many many many opportuinites for conversions. I want to come back after my mission and see it again, it was so amazing!!!!

 

 Well, that's about all for this week. Keep on keepin on, dad I can't believe you would grow your hair back!!  (no….he hasn't grown his hair back yet……we have sort of a bet thing going on…..If I win, he grows his hair back!)

;) Love you guys, have a great week!! :)

 

Love,

Elder Nelson

The Handsome.

Dear mom and family,

 

Special request from Kaden- dear elder my weekly letters to him please :) or have his mom do it, whatevs haha! (Will do)

 

Another request, can Ally come over for the Christmas call?

 

And I don't have the exact Walmart address, but it's on Ridgedale Rd in the Morristown, Hanover area. Have you sent the asmonex yet? I ran out last night…(done and done)

 

One more thing, I haven't been able to download pictures onto the library computers yet, sorry!!!! But it's okay, I really havent taken many pictures here haha! ;) I'll do better!! ;) (Alrighty then…..I'll just have to keep throwing on some 'throw-back' pictures to keep people entertained!) 

 

And also, last thing, could you send me a list of p90x workouts that I can do with very limited equipment?? Thank you!!

 

Yeah, I totally know pres. Crane!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! He invited us over for Thanksgiving dinner, but we couldn't go cause we were at a members house....he's so cool!!! That's awesome!!!! Go best mission in the world!!!

 

Well, this is the first year I can say that I'm not excited for the holidays! We've been helping Carlos set up his Christmas stuff this week, and everytime it just makes me homesick!!!

Thanksgiving was good though, we spent it with Carlos and his family, Judith and Andres. We had normal food...turkey, stuffing, cornbread, veggies, the works. Also on the morning of Thanksgiving we had the Turkey Bowl in Short Hills. 3 zones all met at a football field there and we played ball!! It was so much fun, and basically I'm a pro at football ;) jk, i'm not that good, but it was fun, I scored touchdowns, I threw touchdowns, and we had a blast!!!!

 

Last week was transfers, and so we got a couple new people in our zone that I haven't met yet haha! We did get a new senior couple though, the Maughans! They're from Idaho, they know Elder Redder's (from the MTC) family, and they're related to Elder Jellen!!! They have given us several rides, and they're so technologically impaired haha!! It's really funny!! They're assigned to our spanish branch, and they don't know a lick of spanish, but they're studying and trying to learn! It's so funny to hear them say things because they're kinda hicks, so  they can't pronounce spanish very well haha!! But they're awesome, I love them!!!

 

I got my first nickname this week, El Guapo. It means The Handsome. Yup. That's me. haha!  Hno. Acuna gave me that nickname and he calls E Jellen Monjesito (little monk) because he looks like a Jew because he comes from a Jewish family haha! His dad is the only convert in his family from Judaism, so Hno. Acuna always jokes about how E Jellen should go live in a monastery haha

 Hno Acuna is so funny!!!!

 

 This week was very low key...not a lot went on. Our numbers went down because of the holidays, not to make excuses, but we couldn't get into people's homes because they were gone or with family. We didn't have the opportunity to teach Bessie this week because she was in Maryland, but she got back yesterday, so we're going to call her up today!!!! I'm so excited for that lesson!!! In planning, Elder Jellen and I found a few scriptures that we really feel inspired to share, so I'm stoked!!!! We don't know exactly what she's going through, but she has told us that she is going through some trials right now, so we wanted to share with her the plan of salvation up to the atonement, and then focus on how we can get help through the atonement as we do certain things. It's gonna be amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Also this week we found out that we probably will have a baptism this month!! Patricia, an eternigator that is only not a member because her husband won't legally marry her, wants her 9 year old daughter to be baptized, so we are going over there to talk to her about baptism tomorrow!! It's not really a huge success in the context that we did a lot of work, but it's a huge tender mercy, God is throwing us a bone with this one! Kiddy dunkin, wooo!!!

 

Speaking of eternigators, here's a cool miracle this week!! Our other eternigator like Patricia, Lila, had to take her 6 year old son, Izac, to the hospital on saturday because they thought he had pneumonia. We had an appointment with them, but we missed it because elder Jellen had a meeting in Dover. When we found out, we walked over to the hospital to give him a blessing, but when we got there, we found him fine, sitting on the bed, with his family around them. We asked them how they were, and two minutes later, the doctor released him from the hospital. So we said bye to the family and walked back home. As we left, we were talking about it, and we both felt really impressed that we had gone there for the dad, Ray. He is not a member and is against the church. Lila can't be baptized because he won't marry her legally because he doesn't want her to be a member. So we've been praying a lot that his heart will be softened. And we both felt that maybe our legs are the way to soften it haha! Just by us being there and showing support for the family when something was happening to them seemed to have a big affect on him. Maybe we'll baptize him yet!! ;)

 

My personal studies have been getting better too!! I've tried to study specific topics when I don't have any investigators to study for, and I've been getting a lot more out of that too! It's really cool to see how much you can learn when you  are looking for an answer, which seems like a no duh, but I think alot of times we overlook the simplicity of getting answers to our prayers. So that's been cool for me to see!!

 

 

That's really all for this week haha...it's been pretty low key...haha! Glad to hear all is just peachy at home, keep up the good work team Nelson!! Love you guys!!

 

Love,

Elder Nelson

Pigskin soup and a stinky miracle!

Dear mom and family, (I hope he starts sending pictures soon…..)

 

Please send the Asthmonex to my apartment, I'm on the last week of mine, and I can tell the difference as it's freezing!  And yes, I did get all the packages, thank you so much!!

 

Second, Pres Crane, a counselor of the mish presidency invited us over for dinner onThanksgiving, so that's where we're going! Also, we're having a turkey bowl in Short Hills on thursday morning!!!! We get to play football for two hours on thanksgiving!!!!!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!

 

Okay, I'm gonna start off this letter with a joke. Jk, it's a funny story though. So last week (8 days ago) in elders quorum, the 1st counselor in the branch pres. was teaching and he asked the question "what is the great whore of all the earth?" like it talks about in the scriptures. Without missing a beat, Hermano Acuna raises his hand and says, "La iglesia Catolica" The catholic church hahaha!!! It's a good thing we didn't have any catholic investigators there that day haha!!

 

Last week was really good!! Tuesday I taught in district meeting, and that went really well! I changed everything I was going to teach that morning, and changed it again as we went along haha! We went over Ether 3:1-9 the brother of Jared's prayer and it was really good!!!  We talked about having faith and praying in faith and by doing so, you can see the hand of the Lord in your life every day, because it is always there! And it's true!! We've used that lesson with members this week too!

 

 Wanna hear another funny experience I had last week? I knew you would ;)  So I had my first taste of weird food this week. I think it was on wednesday...anyways, we were at a member's house, the Lopez family, and we shared a message, and then they offered us some food. So they brought us these big bowls of soup with beans and something else in it. I asked E. Jellen what it was, and, like a good trainer, he responded by telling me to eat up. So I threw in a slab of some beans and what looked like a strip of ham in the soup. The texture was really gross, it was squishy, and kinda made me gag. And it didn't taste really good....like it wasn't bad, but it wasn't good haha! I continued eating, and E. Jellen was talking to the husband. He had said something about chanco, so I knew it was something pig, and then he asked E. Jellen how to say it in english. E. Jellen said, "Skin, that's how you say it in english." I FLIPPING ATE PIGSKIN SOUP!!!!!!!!!!!   After that I had the hardest time finishing. We had just had dinner right before that, they had given us huge bowls to finish, it didn't feel or taste good in my mouth, and now I knew what I was eating. It took all I had to finish. And then they brought out dessert, which I later found out was some form of pumpkin, which was cool, it tasted alright! But after my first bite of the dessert, I knew I was going to throw up. So I asked if I could go to the bathroom, and I went in there and I prayed haha! I prayed that I would have the strength to finish and to not throw up, and I was in there for like 5 minutes. Right after I prayed, like RIGHT after I prayed, I farted. And it felt really really good (Did he just say that out loud???) (Seriously can't. Stop. Laughing.). I was able to go out and finish, even though I was still full. It was a miracle in a really strange form haha!! How do you like them apples? ;)

 

 Two things about Elder Jellen, we started eating those Trolli eggs from Halloween, and he requests that you send some more. We haven't found them here yet. So like...an early Christmas present? ;) Jk, maybe if you could throw one pack in there for christmas, that would be great, Elder Jellen says thank you ;) He also told me this week that I look like Roddy from Flushed Away. I don't know where that came from haha!!! But whatever, I've accepted that my chubby cheeks make me look like a rat ;) jk, they're not that fat yet!

 

We got two new investigators on thursday, Bessie and her mother, Kenia.  Bessie was a referral from a member in Newark, and I think she's super prepared!! She's been going through some trials recently, and we don't know what they are, but we were able to go in and kind of get to know her and talk about faith and prayer with her. We testified of how faith and prayers have helped us, and asked her a few questions to help us evaluate where she's at with her faith, and it was a really really good lesson. Edwin, the member from Dover, came with us to that, and it was really powerful! It was one of the more powerful lessons I think I've had here! I think Bessie's friend that referred her asked her if she wanted to go to churhc, and I think she said yes, so we're gonna invite her this week! I'm really excited for her, I really think she could be baptized in this next transfer!

 

Speaking of transfers, tomorrow is the official last day of my first transfer in NJ, woo!! Elder Jellen will be my companion for this next transfer too, which I'm stoked about, I love Elder Jellen! It's so weird because it's his very last transfer. After today, he can count the number of p days he has left on one hand.  We tease him about that all the time, he gets so mad haha!!

 

 On saturday I went on another exchange with Elder Flores. He's only been out like two transfers more than me, and he's from Utah, but he was born in Mexico. Spanish was the first language in his house, but I would have guessed that english was because he's very fluent in both, no sort of weird accent at all. It was a really good exchange


Elder Flores came to Morristown and Elder Jellen went with his comp, Elder Davis, to Dover. It was a DL exchange because we have no elders in our district to exchange with haha! It was my first chance to run the area, which was a little nerve wracking for me, especially since I still have a hard time understanding alot of the people, but it ended up being really really good!! Saturday I spoke the best spanish I ever have, and I understood most of what was going on! We met our goals of two member present lessons and two others! We also went to find a man Elder Jellen and I contacted on the street, Jeremias. He wasn't home, so we started walking down the road. As we were about to pass someone, I felt prompted to contact him, so I did. Turns out, he was Jeremias, and now we have an appt set up with him for next saturday! Talk about a miracle!

 

Elder Flores stayed with me until after church on sunday. We found out on a short notice that we had to give the lesson in elders quorum too, so in our personal study we went over an article in the october Liahona, quentin l cook's "whatever thou art, do well thy part." The lesson went really really well!! We talked about the roles that we have in life, husband, father, missionary, member of the church, brother, church callings, and that by turning the light of Jesus Christ (john 8:12) we can magnify and succeed in these roles and become better. We took up the full hour, got everyone involved, and had a really good lesson!

 

This week started getting freezing, so thanks again for the blanket and stuff! It's so different from the Utah cold. It's like the bone chilling winds of the mountain tops haha!! Tyler, remember that time at snowbasin that the wind was blowing really hard and it was so foggy and so cold? It feels like that every day haha! But still no snow....Man, I wanna go snowboarding so bad!!!!!!!!

 

Well, that's all for this week! Hope everything continues well at home!! Love you all!! :)

 

Love,

Elder Nelson

Hair cuts and Guinea pigs.....oh my!

(Again - no pictures from him, so just thought we'd throw in a few just for fun)

Dear  mom and family,

No I have not gotten any packages yet...but they go to the mission office, then our sr couple brings them to district meeting, but I don't think I'll get them til the 1 of december because the ZL's get mail for the first of the month and my district meeting just got moved away from the zone...long story... 

For christmas, I would appreciate maybe a couple pairs of wool sunday socks haha! My feet are kinda chilly ;) but other than that, whatever works :) Maybe the best two years soundtrack? Some more music would be nice!

 And sorry I couldn't email on monday, it was veterans day and the library was closed...so here I am!

Okay, so first off a flippin awesome experience. Elder Jellen and I went to burger king on thursday night because we were hungry and had a little bit of time for dinner before heading home for the night. We ordered, and while we were waiting, another guy came up and ordered. He came over and said, "are you guys from utah?" we said "yes, have you seen missionaries before?" he flashed us his utah drivers license, so we started talking to him.

We said, "what brings you out to New jersey?"

'Work, I'm a musician.'

"oh really? do you have a show this weekend?"

'yeah, i'm playing with my band tomorrow.'

"awesome! what do you play?"

'i play the bass.'

"sweet! whats your band called?"

'Air Supply.'

Both of our jaws dropped. Because as far as I can remember, air supply is very similar to mayday parade. They're self labeled because they're so big. And here we are, talking to the bassist, Johnny Lightfoot, in burger king. So cool!!!
(um.....maybe this will date me....I'm not sure how he knows who they are......isn't Air Supply a band from like, the 80's?)

It's Elder Jellen's birthday tomorrow, the big 21! His little brother got his mission call last week.  For his birthday, a member, the Acunas, invited us over for dinner to have cui. I was so stoked to try it!! Guess what it is! ...Guinnea pig. (Eew.)  I was so excited!!!!!  But they couldn't find any guinnea pig...so I think we're having something else...(did they try Petsmart?)

I got my first haircut the other day. And I thought it looked really nice! It took like 5 minutes at a supercuts down the street from our house. But when I woke up to do it on tuesday morning, it was so ridiculously uneven! I couldn't make it look normal! So I had to cut a few pieces,(Tanner, with SCISSORS and his own hair??? uh-oh)  and now I think it looks alright, but it's still not really even haha! I haven't had a normal haircut in like three months!!

Do you know what else I haven't done in forever? Drive. I finally got my tiwi card that will let me drive last friday!!  But...they took our car away last thursday...(That's some serious Murphy's law at work!)  They moved us into morristown so that we wouldn't have to walk as far, and then they took our car because we're a walking area...so now we don't even have the measly amount of miles we had per month haha! And that's why they moved our district meeting to the chapel in Morristown, but the rest of our zone meets somewhere else. So really, I don't even know when I'll get mail......this could be a problem...;)

A really cool thing happened the other day though! Since we walk, we freeze. I bought just a cheap two dollar beanie from walmart on monday, and later that night, a non member, Andres (relief society pres's husband) called us, met us, and gave us each a cheap pair of gloves, a scarf, and some earmuffs! The Lord knew we were freezing! And when we were cleaning out our old apartment, we found a box of hand warmers!!!! Wahoo!!!  But if you still happen to maybe buy some nice gloves, that would be cool too :) these gloves were a blessing, but I don't think they'll last the whole winter, they're more like glorified fall gloves ;)

Still haven't heard from Nate, so if you could find him or his email or something, that would be great!!!

We have two investigators on baptismal date, but I think only one actually will, if any. This guy in his mid 20s, Abel, is here from Honduras I think, and he came to work, but he also told elder Jellen that he made a promise to God to follow him when he came to America. So we've been teaching, and we had a member with us in our last lesson and our member pounded Abel, trying to get him to commit, so we got him to commit to pray, and I think eventually he will get baptized, I'm just not sure about the 8th of December...

We also committed Sandra  and her boyfriend, Nelson (first latino I've met that shares my name!), to be baptized, and when I asked Nelson, he quickly nodded his head, but Sandra was kinda arguing/confused about it.  I don't think Nelson really cares about the church - God is important to him, so he tries to be a good person, but thats all. If Sandra gets baptized, he will too, I'm sure of it.  But I think Sandra keeps on inviting us back because she feels, as do many here, that as long as they have a religious discussion with the missionaries every once in awhile, that's fine with them and fine with God.  But it's not.  I just wish I could take away people's agency for 15 minutes, meet with them, put knowledge into their heads, make them see how all the gospel makes sense, and then let them realize that it really does make sense, then commit them to baptism. That would make it so much easier haha!

Also, I had to give a talk on sunday on the plan of salvation. I was kinda nervous, because it had to be all in spanish. I studied, and just took up my preach my gospel with me for my notes, and E. Jellen said I took up all the full 10 minutes, so that was good! Spanish is hard for me!  I feel like I plateaued, and now I'm digressing...it's so frustrating!  I just wanna be fluent already!!

I'm on exchange right now with the ZL, Elder Jones. He looks exactly like Andrei Kirilenko!!!! It's crazy!!!!! He's from cedar city! And I'm also on exchange with Elder Taylor, from Portland Oregon. he's in a trio with the ZL's because his comp went home on monday for medical leave. It's really fun! I can actually understand how the lessons go because they are both english missionaries haha!

That's all for this week, glad to hear all is well at home, glad to hear I don't have to try and meet a new family member over skype ;) (So.....you are probably wondering 'new family member'?  .....in a letter we sent to him we told him we had some exciting news.......drumroll please......  ......and the running joke in the family is that if there's some big news, you know, the kind that warrants a family council - it's either we're having a baby, ...or moving.  Thankfully it was neither.  We just FINALLY - after 6 months without one,  got a new microwave!) 

Keep on keeping on! Love you!

Love,
Elder Nelson 

Best week yet!

Great news for us!  We got TWO letters this week - one in the mail, and one via email.  PLUS someone in his branch sent this picture to our phone.  LOVE me some good happy missionary pictures!  I know I've said it before, but it seriously does my heart good!   I'll just share a few snippets from his written letter first:

Dear Mom and fam,

The Spanish people here in NJ are very friendly, whether they want to talk to us or not!  When we go street contacting, they alway listen to us and take our cards.  Unless they're drunk, in which case they still take our cards, but sometimes they do funny things......for example.....give us black-man-bro-hugs, or contradict themselves - like THREE times.  I think it's kind of funny.  But I think there's only been one person that we've even talked to that doesn't believe in God, so that makes it easy to talk to them about it.

I placed my first Book of Mormon!  It was at someones door!  We went to a potential investigators house to hopefully teach a lesson or set up an appointment.  The lady wasn't there, but her roommate answered.  Her name is Ofelia.  We were talking to her, just like nay other street contact., and at the end - as usual, we asked if she knew anyone who needed a message of Jesus Christ.  She gave us a referral, which was surprising, and then we kept talking with her.  We found out that she's Baptist, and then we kept talking, and then it got to the point where I gave her a BoM!  It was great, and now we have a potential investigator!

Unfortunately, a lot of people bail on their appointment or cancel them. But that won't be a problem for long.  As soon as I master Spanish in a week or two, people will be begging me and Elder Jellen to come by! :)

Just by way of notice, I am growing facial hair.  I shave every other day because you can SEE it on the second day.  And NO, it is NOT just three or four hairs on my lower lip.  It's LEGIT facial hair.  That's right :)

Anyways, have a great week! I love you guys!

(Facial hair comments had us laughing right out loud!  Legitly laughing :).  

Letter # Dos:

Business first....USAA card is working, but I don't think those charges were mine...maybe monitor it for any charges out of NJ, and if there are any, take the necessary action haha!

Driving record, they got it!

I have received one package from you guys, the envelope with trolli eggs, thank you much!!!

SD card, there should be like 200 pics on there....that's bad news if they're gone, because they aren't on my camera either... (HELP!    Tanner sent us his SD card in the mail - all his pictures from Mexico - but the computer reads nothing, and when we stick it in the camera it just gives us a 'cannot be accessed' message.  Anyone ever had that problem, or know why it would be doing that, or what we need to do to retrieve the pictures on it? - I'd hate for him to lose all those pictures from the MTC!)

This week was a week. We had interviews with pres. jeppson last wednesday, SOOO COOOL!!! He told me several times that he felt like I was going to be a great leader in the mission, so I'm a little bit scared for next transfer......I'm not ready to lead haha! ;)  But it was really cool! He just asked how I was doing and checked up on me. Another thing he said a few times was that he felt that I have a really strong spirit, and that made me feel good! I love the Jeppsons, they're amazing! And whenever we meet with them, there is always good food.

 

So I had another humbling experience this week. Five buttons popped off my coat on wednesday I think it was...so at the interviews, Hermana Orton helped me sew on two of them, then I did the rest that night. My fingers are so clumsy. It took me like 45 minutes to sew on three flipping buttons. But its all good, I got 'em on, and thats what matters!!

 

So wednesday was Gang initiation day, and we had to be indoors by 6. So we got home, and ordered pizza for delivery. We got a pizza, cinnastix, and sprite from dominoes! It was the bomb!! We had to be in at 6 on thursday too for halloween, but we didn't get trick or treaters...not that we would have given them our candy anyways ;)

 

So another big thing this week, we moved apartments on saturday. Before we were on the outskirts of morristown, and it took about 45 minutes to walk to the closest place, but now we are right in the middle of Morristown. The apartment is way nicer than our other one, and it has a fitness room with a treadmill!!!  Which is good because I'm getting fat.  We're in a walking area, the members rarely feed us, and I'm getting fat.  Not good haha!  So I ran this morning for the first time in like....8 weeks ;)   But the apartment really was a tender mercy for us, they almost didn't let the church rent it because the church has no credit. But thanks to much prayers and fasting, we got it!!

 

 We had dinner last night with the Gomez', the EQP and his wife. It was sooooo good!!!! There was rice and chicken and sausage all mixed together, it was so good!  Then when we were stuffed with that, they had to bring out a watermelon...I felt like I was going to throw up before the watermelon, but then I had to eat 4 pieces of that....it was good. Dad, I have a whole new respect for those elders you forced bratwurst into.  (We had the missionaries over for dinner several years ago and served real-authentic German bratworst.  Jason had joked with us before about how missionaries are taught to just take whatever food is served to them to be polite.  It was obvious these elders didn't love the brat worst, but Jason just kept OFFERING and OFFERING them more and more!  I thought they might actually throw UP at the dinner table!)

 

We are teaching this new investigator, Sandra, and I think she'll get baptized! We've only had two real lessons, and the last one was really distracted because she was watching her roomates baby, but she has great faith and really believes in the Savior. I think she'll come around.

Also, we went to see Ofelia, the lady I gave the BOM to last week, and we went with our ward mission leader, Hno. Morales - a convert of 4 years. We got there and Ofelia had a friend there, her friend and Hno. Morales happened to know eachother, and so we're teaching both of them now too! I think we have an appointment with them tomorrow actually!  I have a good feeling about them!

 

We still play soccer every tuesday, which is great! Last week Obdeli, an investigator and the EQP's son, brought all of his soccer buds to play, and I scored 4 goals on them!! (SO....if he's still scoring 4 goals on them, I'm thinking he can't actually be THAT fat yet) :) Maybe they'll have a new respect for the elders and all get baptized ;)

 

Cool story, Last thursday I think it was, Elder Jellen and I were looking for an address we had obtained by street contacting. We got to the end of a long road, and the address didnt exist. But as we were about to turn back, I felt like we needed to do something there. I told E Jellen, and so he let me take the lead. We said a prayer asking for guidance, and then I had the weirdest feeling, like the spirit was pulling me in a direction. I just remember stepping back and letting my body move haha!  It was so weird!  I walked around, almost in circles, as if the spirit was testing out how my body worked for a few minutes, but I was not in control! Then I went to this door. We don't knock doors here because we have so little success doing so, so this was my first door to knock. I knocked, and nobody answered. So the spirit walked around again, then to the next door. I knocked and someone answered! Then I talked to her in spanglish, shared a small message and got her contact info. Afterwards, E Jellen and I both felt we had done what needed to be done. It was really cooL! I'm not sure if she'll get baptized or not, we're still trying to meet with her, but it was a cool experience!  

 

That's about it for this week, it was a good week, the best is yet to come! We're still praying for a baptism, I'm praying for the gift of tongues, and we're working hard! Glad to hear everything is well at home, Tyler, good work ;) Addie, happy birthday! Emma, good work staying out of drama! I pray for you guys daily, be safe, love you!

 

Love,

Elder Nelson