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 :)

Finally....a CAR!

Dear Family,

 

Haha was there more to that letter that I missed?? That's so awesome, Joseph better be excited!!! And Angels Landing is seriously like my favorite hike ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love that place!!!

 

So the big news of this week...................I am......................................................................staying in Morristown for transfer number 5. The good news about this, I know it will be my last transfer here, so I'm for sure out in 6 weeks. The better news, E Diaz is out, he got called zone leader, so I get a new companion tomorrow! The crazy news, They're putting me in a trio in Morristown, so jk, I actually get TWO new companions tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The even crazier news, the assistants gave us a car yesterday!!!!!!!!!!! It's crazy because our apartment charges 100$ a month for parking, so we're gonna have to be parking somewhere different on the streets every night haha! But it'll be an adventure. Looking back on these past two transfers, I've seen that it really was fun being with E Diaz, but it was really hard, and I learned alot. But, I'm really excited to get my new companions tomorrow haha!

 

Last week was good!! Tuesday we had a great District Meeting, E diaz and i gave a training, and then the motown sisters also gave atraining, turned out really well! We trained on how to use the BOM to respond to objections. Basically, every question about the gospel and our religion can be traced back to faith haha. So faith is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. We got caught up in a few things after the meeting, so we didn't really even have time to go out and proselyte before soccer that night. But soccer was fun!!

 

Thursday was really good too!! We have this man that comes out from Dover to go on teamups with us, Edwin, and he is so awesome!! We also got this media referral a few weeks ago, and he's an investigator that we teach on thursdays. His name is Donaldo. And he's gonna get baptized this transfer. He doesn't have a date yet, but he accepted the invitation!! He's really interested, and I didn't get to teach him the week before, but last week we went to teach him the gospel, and when we'd ask him "donaldo, what does faith mean to you?" he'd be like "well faith is like a belief in something you can't see, right?" "donaldo, why is it important to be baptized?" "well, Jesus was baptized right? And we need to become clean from our sins." and it was like that for flipping every gospel principle!!!!!!!!!! It was soooo cool!!!!! We'll definitely be working really hard with him!!!

 

IT rained all day friday, all day saturday, and all day sunday. It was a super bummer. On friday, E Diaz had to go to a new zone leader meeting, so I was on exchange in Motown with an english elder that is actually in my going home group, E Doezie. He's kinda been struggling in his mission I guess with homesickness and stuff, so during our lunch hour, we went to Carlo's Bake Shop. I told you they opened one up last week right? WEll, in case I forgot, they opened up a Cake Boss bakery right down the street from my apartment!!!!!!! So yeah, we went, and I bought myself a cream puff. It was the most expensive cream puff I've ever eaten, but it was pretty good. It cost me two bucks, but it was like the cheapest thing on the menu haha!! After that, we went and taught Carlos, our member, then we had to go help move stuff into our apartment for my trio!!! When E diaz got back from his meeting, we had to do our transferly cleaning in our apartment, then we had a branch activity. The sisters were in charge of it, so we played charades with BOM stories, and it was actually quite fun. E Diaz and I were with two little kids, and we acted out the story of the Liahona like a boss, but noone guessed it!!!! Ridiculous...;)

 

Saturday was busy too. After studies, we had to finish up cleaning because we didn't have time to finish on friday, and then we went to a surprise party that one of our members was doing for Sis Pearson, who is going home tomorrow. We ate lots of food, and it was also quite fun. When that was over, we went out with the assistants to go try by one of their investigators who they are passing off to us because she speaks spanish! But she juked us, curses...SO we went and walked around in the rain for awhile. We were almost ready to head home, but I felt prompted to go try by a former. We went by and Alberto opened the door, who wasn't our former, but we've talked to him before. We asked if we could come in, and he let us in. We were talking to him and his friends/roomates/possibly relatives? and we immediately started teaching the Restoration. We got three new investigators in that lesson, Alberto, Alan, and Lestor. They are way cool!!! Except for Alberto knows the bible really well, and he doesnt' believe in the BOM at all, and he argued alot....E Diaz pulled out 2 nephi 29 on him, and I was ticked at him after the lesson for that, because I don't think alberto liked that at all...but luckily, E Diaz is OUT and I'll be taking over from here ;) Hopefully we'll be able to bring them into the fold too!!

 

 Sunday was amazing. At church, no one came to the first hour, gospel principles, so us, the sisters, and hno carvajal (branch mission leader) prepared our lesson because we were teaching the combined 2nd hour on missionary work. Hno carvajal made a "plan" where the stronger members visit and teach the weaker members (basically family home teaching, but the plan is called "nourished by the good word of god" because noone here does home teaching or even has callings as home teachers...) so he presented that for a few minutes. Then as missionaries, we taught the members their role in missionary work, as team ups, getting refferals, how they should treat investigators at church, and teaching with us. WE've had a lot of problems where us or the sisters take a member out on a team up and the member completely takes over the lesson and the investigator never wants to come back to church, so we talked alot about that. It turned out really really good!!

 

Then for sacrament, it was testimony meeting. It was sooooo powerful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! E Diaz bore his testimony, sis pearson bore hers, and a member, Hna Padilla, also bore hers. I have never seen her at church in all the time I've been here, but her family comes almost every week. She bore her testimony about how the example of one family (the carlos gomez family, who actually was doing their part in hno carvajal's plan) in teaching and visiting and being a good example to her brought her back to church. It was awesome!!! Then Hna gomez got up and bore her testimony about how god knows the reasons why we are where we are and what we need to be doing, and it was powerful!! Then Sis Maughan (senior couple) got up and bore her testimony in spanish, which she's been practicing really hard!!! It was really good!! THEN, E MAUGHAN GOT UP AND BORE HIS TESTIMONY IN SPANISH, AND HE PRETTY MUCH GAVE UP ON SPANISH, AND IT WAS BETTER THAN SIS MAUGHAN'S!! I definitely saw the gift of tongues in full effect today. But wait, it gets better! Right as the 1st counselor was getting up to end the meeting, OBDELI GETS UP AND BEARS HIS TESTIMONY ON HOW THE GOSPEL HAS CHANGED HIM, AND THEN HIS DAD BEARS HIS TESTIMONY ON HOW HIS PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED!!!!! It was definitely a very powerful, and emotional, sacrament meeting.

After church, we got our car from the assistants, went to dinner at the carlos gomez family's house, then we went to the Morales for another dessert before sis pearson leaves. Then we went and taught the Chivilius so E Diaz could say goodbye. And now I am here. It was a good week, and I'm so ready for the next one!!

 

Love you guys, ustedes son los mejores!!!!!!!! Les quiero mucho, cuidense!!!!

 

Love,

Elder Tanner Nelson

 

p.s. any workout tips will be accepted, seeing as I will have 25's, 10's, a pullup bar, milk cartons, and crossfit :)

The Cake Boss

Dear Family,

 

Sounds like another crazy week over there!!!!! But it's just as crazy over here haha! I feel like I've barely had time to breathe this week!!

 

Transfers are next tuesday, and I'm pretty sure that I'm leaving Mo-town, at long last!! I'm gonna miss some of the members here, but I think I'm way past ready for a change. A change in companions, a change in scenery, a big change. E Diaz thinks I'm gonna go district leader down in Paterson, which I wouldn't mind, Paterson is a pretty hood area ;) I have no clue where they'll send me...guess I'll find out next tuesday! But if you are sending any mail, if it wont be here before march 31, please don't send it haha!

 

Like I said, this week was crazy. Tuesday we had an exchange, E Welch, a new elder serving in Dover, came to Motown with me, and we just exchange after District meeting on tuesdays. We drive to district meetings with the sisters and the maughans, and the sisters hadn't been able to grocery shop on monday, so we had to stop at a place on the way home with the maughans, which made it so we didn't get home til about 4:30. We went out and proselyted for awhile, but seriously, noone was home. So we just walked around and tried to contact for an hour and a half before soccer haha! Soccer was the only lesson we had that day. On a sidenote, I kinda don't like playing soccer with the natives haha! It's good because they're all pretty good, but because I'm white, they think I don't know how to play, so they put me and E Welch on the junky team with the only little kids that come to play, and we have to show them up the hard way. ;) Nevertheless, I do love tuesday night soccer night.

 

On wednesday we exchanged back, and then E Diaz and I went to go teach Ramon, our crazy bible knowing contact from last week. We had discussed a way to teach the BOM in district meeting the day before using the whole intro, so that's what we did with him, and it went really well, but really loooooong. He understood and accepted the BOM really really well, but he is so knowleadgable about the Bible, it's crazy. He said he would start to read it, and he also said he was going to make a list of questions for us and the next time we came. We arranged a teamup with our branch mission leader, who is also very knowleadgeable about such things as the bible, but unfortunately, when we went by on saturday, ramon was working :/ so that gives us extra time to study!!

 

On thursday and Friday, I had to go to a Leadership Training Meeting that went from 8:30-4:30 both days. They usually have those meetings every 3 months, and you're supposed to go in your first 3 months in the mission, but because the last one would have fallen on christmas, everyone that has come into the mish since lsat october (my group) had to go. It was really really goood, Pres. Jeppson, Sis Jeppson, the Assistants, and all the Zone Leaders and sister training leaders gave trainings throughout those two days, and we role played like a bajillion times...on the bright side, I don't hate role plays quite as much as I used to ;) But it was really good, I learned alot about how to be a better missionary and how to apply PMG to my investigators!!

 

While I was at that meeting, E Diaz was with his last companion, because his companion also had to go to the meeting, so we just did an exchange there haha! They stayed in Motown and worked our area until we got done and got home.

 

On friday after the meeting, the Maughans had us help them. Sis Maughan is trying to teach a couple of 11-14 year old boys, Raymon and Anthony, how to play the piano, but they haven't been dedicated to practicing. So she wanted me to try to motivate them. So I pulled out my piano skills from years past, shared D and C 25:12, and played the right hand of the basic hymns "now let us rejoice". They were pretty impressed. ;) But I really think they thought it was cool that I played the piano haha!! I told them that I regretted quiting (which I do mom, and Emma and Addie and Tyler, don't quit, it's not worth it) and I think that  helped motivate them!

 

 Saturday, Hno Carvajal (branch mission leader) came out with us, and we ended up teaching like 5 lessons, which was way good!! The Morales invited us over for breakfast too, it was really good!! Also, they just opened up a Carlos' Bake Shop (cake boss) here in Motown!!!!!!!! So we definitely went to go see it, it's pretty cool!!! Funny story about saturday though....So usually, E Diaz and I take like a 30-40 minute nap during our lunch hour to get ready for the day, and that kind of tides us over. But because of our exchange and the leadership training meeting and everything going on this week, we haven't had time for a single nap. So on saturday night, we had our appointment at 5 and 6 cancel on us, so we went home for our dinner hour. We both decided we were just gonna sleep for 30  minutes and then we'd go out and work, we were so exhausted!! So we got in bed at 5:30 and set an alarm for 6:05. But the alarm never rang. Which sounds suspicious, but we checked it like three times after the fact, it was set for 6:05 pm, the volume was all the way turned up, it had a loud ringer, it just never rang!! Anyways, I woke up at 8:00, woke up E Diaz, and we were both astounded that we'd slept that long!! So we quickly got ready and ran out the door, and were able to teach one more lesson before getting back home at 9 haha!! The crazier thing was, right after we were done planning, we both threw on our pjs and went right back to bed, the nap didn't even affect us haha!!!!

 

And then it was Sunday. Sundays are nice because you can wake up at 6:30, go shower and get all ready, and then nap until study time. We take as many naps as we can. We had one hour of personal study, then the Maughans picked us up for our PEC meeting. We got there and were waiting for a long time, and no one called us in for PEC, so we went to the English ward's sacrament meeting haha! After that, we went about our spanish branch schedule as usual. I had to give a talk, and I only had time to prepare it on saturday and sunday morning! It was on the talk "We search for security in counsel" by Henry B Eyring in June 2008 liahona. I prepared alot about how the prophets speak for God and how they care for us and direct us to  places of security. Sister Pearson, one of the sisters in our branch, spoke before me, and she took up almost all of my time because it was her last talk in the missino, she goes home next week. So I only got like 5 minutes, and I felt kinda dumb because it was so short...but oh well, it still went well!!

 

But that's about all for this week, it was crazy!! We're still trying to contact tons, but Satan has been working really hard this week, we have had a really hard time getting contacts that are more than just handing out a card, which is what we strive for, but oh well, the work goes on!! I'm in 3 Nephi 1 in the BOM, which is way ahead of schedule, but when I'm done with it, I'm going to study the bible so I can better answer questions and understand where other religions are coming from! I really know almost nothing about the bible haha....

 

Hope you guys have a great spring break!!! Love you!! Good luck with the move!!

 

Love,

Elder Tanner Nelson

Crazy St. Patty's day parade

Dear Family,

 

Yes, that would be great if you could send the booklet from insanity! I'll take that!! ;) I've gained 3/4 pounds this week, and I think some is muscle and some is fat haha!!

 

 This has been a really successful week, and I'm convinced that it's because of contacting. We've continued contacting like crazy (Friday we contacted 52 people, other days, an average of about 25-30) and we have definitely seen the fruits of our labors and pres. Jeppson's promise fulfilled. We got 9 new investigators last week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I think several of them will be dropped soon, but all of them showed at least enough interest to become investigators haha! The two craziest ones happened on Friday. Right before we left the apartment, we said a prayer. E Diaz prayed that we would find a new investigator. We went out and contacted about 10 people on the way to the first house we were going to try, a current investigator that we haven't seen in awhile. Right before we knocked on her door, I saw a guy a little bit farther down on the street, so I went up and contacted him. He let us in to his house, which happened to be the upstairs room of our current investigator, and then he listened, we testified, and BOOM! Jose= New investigator.

 

After that, we had to go grab some papers or something at the apartment, so we prayed again, and again we prayed for a new investigator. And this is crazy because we never really ask for specific blessings like that, let alone twice ;) but lo and behold, about an hour later I contacted Ramon, who let us in to his house, and we taught the Restoration after a quick how to begin teaching. Ramon knows the Bible I think better than I know how to make cold cereal....he's cray. Friday was a crazy day!

 

Then on Saturday, we went to try by a contact from earlier in the week, Marvin. We found him at home, along with his dad, Virgilio, and his two older brothers I think they were, Jose, and Byron? Maybe brothers in law? But yeah, 4 new investigators right there!!!

 

Obdeli got the priesthood yesterday in elders quorum, and since we have sacrament after that, he also got to bless the sacrament with his dad!!! I got to participate in ordaining him to be a priest, and it was so cool!!!!!! Obdeli also came out on a team up with us on Saturday night, and he is a boss. We went to see a less active, and he taught a little bit about faith, and the LA was surprised that he's a convert of two weeks haha!! Obdeli is basically the coolest Guatemalan convert I've ever baptized.

 

Okay, I'm sorry I keep on talking about Saturday, but that's because all the big stuff happened on Friday and Saturday ;) We went to a St. Patty's day parade on Saturday morning. It was cray. St Patty's day is huge out here, like a lot more than the Utah "everybody wear a green shirt or I'm gonna pinch ya" kind of holiday. I heard that the Morristown st patricks parade is the biggest parade in New Jersey!!!! The parade went for two hours. There was tons of bagpipers, like 65% of the whole parade haha!! And there was also a lot of Irish dancing teams, made me think of Amelia! ;) And there was a lot of dogs, because the "seeing eye" dog company was started in Morristown, just in case you were wondering. ;) It was actually a pretty cool parade, ending with the mystery machine, the ghostbuster van, an ice cream truck, the car from back to the future, and, of course, the batmobile, complete with batman, catwoman, batwoman, the penguin, and the riddler. No holiday is complete without batman. And I'm sorry this is a little different than the spiritual message you were expecting ;) but after that, I'm not sure we met a sober person. Literally EVERYONE, man woman, teenager, dog, cat, horse, was drunk. We saw more than one person fall over, run into trees, poles, etc. and it was hilarious!!! ;) happy st Patrick's day everyone! ;)

 

 Back to the gospel, I've noticed a really interesting trend in reading the book of Mormon. Everytime the nephites were destroyed or smitten, it was because they "were slow to remember the lord their god." So, if we really take our baptismal covenant seriously, which says that we covenant to "always remember him", and if we prepare to be worthy to honor that covenant when we take the sacrament, we truly will be blessed with the spirit to be with us always, and we will never fall into that same trap as the Nephites. Prepare to be worthy to take the sacrament, and prepare to receive blessings!!

 

Good luck with the move, with the busy schedule, and with everything else on your plates haha! Let me know the new address too when you actually move, I don't wanna send things to the wrong place ;) Love you guys, have a great week! :)

 

Love,

Elder Tanner Nelson

Good stuff going on!

Dear Family,

 

Obdeli did indeed get confirmed yesterday, and it was awesome as well!!! We participated, and his dad confirmed him! It was so cool when Obdeli walked into church though! He walked in in a white shirt and tie with dark slacks, where normally he wears just a polo or something. He has changed completely. He even looks a little bit different. And several people have told us that same thing!! He's so much more confident, so much happier, and he says he even feels different!! Obdeli is the bomb. I'm definitely keeping in contact with him forever, and I'm going to the temple with him in a year for his endowments. I'm stoked for it!!!!!!

 

This week was good. I went on exchange with my ZL, E Welburn from Nephi, UT on Tuesday, and he let me drive!!!!! So I've officially driven twice in NJ!!!!!!! WOOO, celebration time!!! But it was a really good exchange. We went and saw his recent converts, Donnie (peru) and Gloria (spain). They're so cool!!  They hadn't made any food, so Donnie made us a protein shake and they gave us some cake. It was awesome haha!!

 

Pres. Jeppson has made us a promise that if we contact at least 10 people a day, our teaching pool will double, and so we've been doing just that. It's been nice because the weather is FINALLY starting to get a little bit warmer, so there's actually people that will stop and talk to you outside!!! We've been contacting about 18 people a day, and that's been awesome!! On Saturday, I contacted two women from Ukraine, and had to give them a Spanish card because we don't have any English...;) but it's cool because there really are people here from all over the world!

 

 The Chiviliu family had us over for dinner on Friday night. And guess what it was? Talapia. The fish that I threw up on mah plate those times that dad cooked it. (sorry dad ;)) But guess who tuffed it out? And guess who liked it? and guess who had seconds? THIS ELDER!!!! That's right, I ate two servings of tilapia and rice, and it was actually pretty good. I wouldn't mind having it again haha!!

 

So as of yet, we haven't quite doubled our teaching pool. But we did get a media referral the other day!! The first one I've ever gotten!! And we were able to bring that man, Donaldo, a Book of Mormon, and we're going back next time with the finding faith in Christ dvd, hopefully we can get him dunked too!!!

 

 Also, here's something cool!!! Edwin, a member from dover, comes out with us on Thursdays. So last Thursday, we were taking him back to the train station, and he wanted to stop at burger king for dinner. so then as we left BK, some guy stopped us and asked us if we lived at AMLI, which we do. Then he offered us a ride back, because he lives there too!! His name is Joe, and he asked a lot about what we do and how the mission runs. He was really friendly, and he's a great guy!! Before we left him, we took him to our room and gave him a finding faith in Christ dvd, and he said he'd watch it!!! And I think he has a lot of potential to be dunked too!!! But we'd have to refer him to the AP's, or else we'd be poaching...;)

 

 Sunday was probably the best day. Everything at church went well. The EQ lesson was prepared, we had a great sunday school lesson, obdeli got confirmed, it was great. The only bad thing about sunday was daylight savings. Did it kill you guys, or are you doing all right haha? IT killed us!!!! After church we took our lunch hour and slept the whole way through haha!! THen we went to belia's house for dinner, chicken, rice, and quesedillas, always good at her house haha! She makes really good food!! Then after all that, she brought out banana bread, which I think I had like 6 pieces of....I gained about 3 pounds yesterday haha!! But after that, we were walking down the road, and obdeli called us. We were walking past his house and he was looking at us out his window haha! He invited us over to teach him a lesson, so we did!! We shared a message about the B.o.m., then just talked for awhile. We were over there for a bit longer than we should have been, but after last night, Obdeli is like our best friend. During priesthood yesterday, the question was asked, "what brings you joy/what do you like?" and obdeli said "I like when the elders come over and teach me!" and yesterday he just opened up to us! We were joking around with him, and then we had a really serious conversation about girls with him hahahahaha!!! He FINALLY confessed to us that him and Laura (another ward member) are dating, but he swore us to secrecy. Then he asked us if it was okay for Mormons to hold hands, hug, and kiss when they are dating, because someone had told him they can't do that haha! So we clarified that he's all good, as long as he doesn't let it get to the point of breaking the law of chastity, and he's all good there! It was really really funny though ;) we joked around a lot with obdeli about that ;)

 

 Last item of business...have you been able to get ahold of bro flint??

I've decided to gain weight. Healthy weight, that is. E Diaz and I are lifting weights like crazy in the mornings, and so I'm still going to eat healthy, but I'm going to eat more to support my growth. Or that's the plan at least ;) I think I'm shooting to weigh about 153 in the next 3 weeks, that's not too bad, right? ;)

 

Anyways, good luck with the move!!! Emma, good luck in your soccer tourney!!!! Ty, good luck with high school team!!! Addie, good luck with Chinese!!!! Be Safe, I love you!!!!

 

Love,

Elder Tanner Nelson

A Baptism and some good ole fashioned tie-burning

Dear Family,

 

Okay, first off, I have to say, I'd rather eat mundungo than cow intestines...just saying….(one is cow stomach…the other cow intestines???  I think it's funny he would prefer one over the other.  Ew.) 

And....................OBDELI GOT BAPTIZED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was so so so so so so so so so so soooooooooooooo amazing. We had stake conference this weekend, and so we went to church early to start filling the font, and we left a couple of times to check on it and make sure we had everything ready. So then conference ended, and guess what? No obdeli. His dad was there and everyone from the branch that was staying was there, but no Obdeli. We had told everyone it was going to start at 12:30, right after stake conference, just because everyone runs on hispanic time and comes late to everything....So we were actually planning to start at 1 (Wow….we thought Mormon standard time was bad) :). It was so so so stressful getting everything all set up and all ready, and we couldn't find any baptismal suits, and then Pres. and Sis. Jeppson were there and our zone leaders and my district leader and the AP's, but the guy who was going to be baptized wasn't even there!!!!! He finally rolled in at about 1:15, and we ran him into the dressing room!!!! We got him and his dad all ready, and then got them out and took a few quick pictures (sorry, I only got one on my camera...), and then got it all started at about 1:30!!  I translated for Sis. Jeppson, and we had a talk on baptism. (side note, when we were singing, sis jeppson said I have a beautiful voice ;)) Then came time for the baptism. We escorted him to the door. Two brethren from the ward were witnessing, so we watched from the side door. Obdeli was so nervous!! He was shaking haha! But he followed his dad down into the water, and they got right into position. His dad closed his eyes, and said the prayer from memory. "Basilio Obdeli Gomez Luis, habiendo sido comisionado por Jesucristo, yo te bautizo en el nombre........." and then he went down into the water. As soon as he came up, he wiped the water out of his eyes, and then him and his dad embraced and just bawled together for about 3 minutes!!! It was sooooooo amazing!!!!!! The spirit was so strong!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You could definitely feel the love they have for eachother and for their desires to do what's right. After they got changed, we had a talk on the Holy Ghost, which he will get next week. Then his dad, the Elder's Quorum president, gave the "welcome to the elders" shoutout (I'm totally curious what the 'shout out' is??  And maybe we should do something like that in Relief Society!). After he said welcome to EQ, he talked to him and said a few things as his dad. He said he's so proud of Obdeli, and just expressed how long he's prayed for this day and how happy he is. Then we ended with a prayer, and went to eat :) The food is always so good. I think I gained two pounds from that meal alone ;) ABout half of the people at Obdeli's baptism were his brothers and cousins that he lives with, in total about 15 people. None of them are members, and none of them have expressed interest in our message. But they were all there to support Obdeli. One of Obdeli's brothers (i think it's his closest one, he's a really cool guy!) came up to him after the service, and they hugged and cried together too. It was so powerful! Pres. Jeppson said that that was one of the most powerful baptisms he has ever been too. So did all the other missionaries there. And guess what!!! That's the first baptism my area has had in almost 3 YEARS!!!! 

 

We went and talked to Zacarias (obdeli's dad) when we were cleaning up, and he thanked us with tears in his eyes for the work we have done and for us being here and thanks for being missionaries. It made me feel so good! I feel so accomplished haha!  I feel like my work in Morristown is done. I'm ready to be transferred. I feel like I've met my purpose.

 

 This picture is of me burning a tie because today is my 6 month mark.  It's tradition.

(Holy moly - In some ways it seems like it's been forever, and in other ways the time has flown!)

The rest of last week was pretty lame...We have been working so hard. We just haven't been able to get into people's homes. We seriously try all of our first plans, and all of our back ups just about every day. It's alot of walking, and it feels like so little success. But that baptism was worth it :)

 

With E Diaz, I just feel like he's been doing things to bug me. So we'd both had it, and we yelled at eachother for a few minutes, and really didn't talk to eachother for the rest of the day on Friday. But that night, we worked things out, he asked if there were things I wanted him to change, I told him to think about it and we'd work it out the next day in comp study. So the next day, we talked about a few things that we're both going to change, and ever since then, we haven't had any problems. Every once in awhile, I still get annoyed ;) but I guess that's how life goes, isn't it? ;) (I have to admit, I'm having a hard time picturing Tanner yelling at anyone…that's so not his usual style.  This companionship is pulling things out of him we've never seen.  But so glad they are both willing to work at it.)

Like I said, this weekend was our stake conference. The Focus was on hastening the work, but more specifically, "because I have been given much I too must give." It was really really good!! The speakers talked alot about the members giving of their time to be examples, to go out with the missionaries, lots of things! I learned alot! One talk in particular that I really liked was about fasting. I don't remember everything the guy said (I was stressing about obdeli's baptism;)) but I do remember that I felt that the principle of fasting was true. That as we fast and pay our fast offerings, we are helping to build God's kingdom. I can especially see it in action because we have this family in our branch, the Padillas, who literally have nothing. We've opened their fridge a few times, and there isn't even enough food to feed E diaz and I for two meals. And they have the two parents and three kids, ages 12, 11, and 9. The kids are so tiny. It's horrrible to see!! But every time we go over there, they always offer to give us something. It's so humbling to see, that even when they have nothing, they are so willing to give. So just remember, we have been given much, so it is our responsibility to give according to what we can.

 

That's about all for this week! Congrats Ty on making the team, that's fantastic!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I did get the pants, thank you for those! I have to go to the doctor again on friday, my lymph nodes are still swollen...Good luck with the move and everything
! I'm a little bit excited to see the new house ;) I'm glad you were able to stay close!! That's great!! Love you all, have a great week!! :)

Love,

Elder Tanner Nelson

 

Crazy weather and maybe even a baptism!

Dear Family,

 

Okay, real quick, if you haven't already packed up my stuff, I need a pair of jeans! I have those 32x34 aero slim jeans that I would like, seeing as the jeans that I brought have a big ole hole right in a bad spot for a hole, and I'm hoping it's cheaper to send jeans than to buy them? Let me know!

 

And I did get the asmonex, thank you!!

 

Also, I got the valentine's package last week, but some of the dots were missing on the note that I was supposed to put together....so I didn't get much past "happy valentines day" haha...what did it say?!

 

 Let's start with the exciting news today! Obdeli called us yesterday after church and was like "Elders, can I get baptized next Sunday?" So WE'RE FLIPPING HAVING A BAPTISM ON THIS COMING SUNDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AT LAST, AT LONG LONG LAST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO FLIPPING STOKED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Keep him in your prayers, and expect pictures next week.

 

This week has been alot better. I've tried to open up and be myself more, and we've worked hard, and E Diaz and I are getting along alot better. I think this will be one of my hardest companionships in my mission, but I think I can endure these next 5 weeks. (whew!)

 

One thing that really helped me was that last wednesday, I took some study time, went into my room, really studied my patriarchal blessing and prayed for help.  That really helped me feel like I can do it, and that God has my back. And that's when things started to get better!

 

It's been hard to teach alot of lessons this week, no one has been home!! The weather has been really weird too!! The beginning of last week was snowy, the middle was sunny, friday it poured one of the hardest rainstorms I've ever seen,  and saturday and sunday felt like april/may! But we have had a really hard time finding people to teach.

One thing we have been doing is a lot of contacting. As a district we're doing these "verse to converts" where we share a B.O.M. scripture when we contact someone on the street, and it's been really cool!! We havent' been able to get any new investigators yet, but it's still been fun! The funniest is when we accidently contact drunk guys who just wanna argue ;) we committed one to baptism right on the spot, he was knocked out haha ;)

 

On friday we went down to the doctor with E Maughan down in Newark, the heart of the hood. Everything went well, the doctor prescribed me for some medicine for the swollen lymph nodes, should be back to normal by this weekend. He also shared some really good scriptures in the bible about the great apostasy. 2 timothy 3:1-5 and 2 timothy 4:3-4. I will definitely be using those in the future! After the doctor, E Maughan took us to this place called Elm Street BBQ, which was sooooooo goood!!!! It's like this brazilian bbq place, some of the best food I've ever had!! Traffic on the way home was really bad too, so we only got one lesson with Hno Acuna that day :/

 

 I had my first true Bible Bashing experience on Saturday. We received a referral from the sisters named Alejandro. So we knocked on his door, and after a few minutes of talking at his door, he reluctantly let us in. He acted really schizophrenic or paranoid to me haha! But we sat down and started a how to begin teaching and tried to get to know his religious background a little bit. Right off the bat, he started throwing at us that there is only one god, Jesus Christ, and that he is everything and the only one. So we pulled out several Bible scriptures about how the godhead is three separate beings, and he still argued with us. His argument was that in the Bible, it's Jesus that says "who will go down to die for all mankind" and then he tells us he picks someone, but decides to come down himself and calls himself "the son". Which makes absolutely no sense because as one pioneer convert said, "I knew the church was true because I had read the Bible." So therefore, we are right. ;) He told us he'd study up and we'd better study up, and he's expecting us to be back at his house right after Obdeli's baptism on sunday haha!

 

I'm still a little bit frustrated with our branch mission leader though. He's really passionate about the work, which is good. But he can't see the good in any of the members, and seemingly, nothing is changing at all. The Maughans and the sisters are also feeling the same, so hopefully we can work to make everything function! I really do like the guy, he's a powerful teamup and a great member, he just focuses too much on the negative of the members....

 

On a side note for the week, I invented a sandwich this week. Grill up a little bit of pineapple, toast two pieces of bread, cook up some rice, put it all together with BBQ sauce, and you get deliciousness. (Weird combination…but hey, the idea has merit……maybe we'll try it for dinner).

 

Other than that, not much to report this week! We are stoked for Obdeli's baptism and praying that everything goes well for it!! Good luck with everything at home and the move, you guys are always in my prayers!! Love you all!!!

Love,

Elder Tanner Nelson