September 30, 2013

This week has been good. Our investigator Adrian is progressing, he is now quitting smoking and drinking and he is going to church. He loves reading the Book of Mormon and I know that he will be a great priesthood leader for his family in the near future! I love seeing the changes in the lives of families. We went to their house the other day and I asked Adrian what changes he has seen in his life since he began to listen to us and read the Book of Mormon. At first he couldn’t really think of much, but as he thought more and more, he began listing lots of very important changes in his life and family. I could tell that he and his wife were happier together and that their family seemed more relaxed and at peace and I promised him that it was only going to improve after his baptism and he said in response "Ojala que si" which means basically “It better be!” ha. Very cool family and I can’t wait for his baptism! :) I’m doing way good, I love my comp and my area, lots of cool people! The mission is the best!

Elder Nelson

Zone conference, with Elder Zeballos

Elder Me, Maxi (an investigator eternal who needs to get married
to his member girlfriend before baptism.
Way cool guy i love him), Elder Cuevas

The familia Garcete, way cool family one of the girls is coupled with Maxi,
they have a cute kid named Kevin. way cool family,
been members a long time, now we are working
with them and activation :)

We played pool the last p-day of last transfer! (me)

            This is Elder Bohne from California

I e-mailed Jared after receiving this picture of Elder Bohne and asked if it was just me or does Elder Bohne look a lot like him. His response...
Everyone asks us if we are related, on P-day we went to the pharmacy to get ibuprofen and the lady in the store asked us if we were brothers ha, its not just you ha,

September 23, 2013

This week was good! We are helping an investigator progress, his name is Adrian Rocha and his wife is a member and his daughter wants to be baptized who is 8, and she wants her dad to baptize her so he has a little interest in the church for that, so we are helping him. at first he was like, nah my life is crazy I have problems I don’t really have time for the church, and I remember I felt heartbroken that he felt he didn’t have time for the church when he needs it most, so I bore testimony to him that he will never find the peace he looks for without Jesus Christ and his church, and that now is when he needs it the most, and with as tear in his eye he said, okay we will go to church tomorrow, so now he has lots of interest in the church, now the challenge is meeting with him, he’s got a wild work schedule, so we miss appointments a lot because last min he’s off to work, so kind of stressful but we love him and helping him improve, so great is the gospel! I love this work! :)

Elder Nelson

Here is a little part of Jared's letter to his Dad today...

When I was in South Carolina I was in an area for a few days before I left to Argentina, I was in an area that was an hour or so away from the mission home. on a Sunday I was to report at the mission home to leave for Arg. I got a ride from my district leader and his companion to Irmo because that was their area and they brought me to the mission home, but before we ate dinner with a missionary couple who worked in the office of the mission. our district leader shared a spiritual thought after we ate and I will never forget it, he had us all close our eyes and envision the counsel in heaven, God presenting the plan, and stating that there would be a need for a sacrifice and a savior, and all of us getting quite, not wanting to play that role, but 1st one stood up and said ill go, I’ll do it, but I will also make sure that everyone gets home to the father, but all I want in the end is glory in my name. A few of us liked the idea a few of us no, then another stood up, our oldest brother, who we all knew loved us so so much he said ill go, I’ll do it, everyone can have their agency, I will provide the way, and in the end we will give all the glory to our Father... and as I was imagining in my mind in that moment, my love for my older brother, my savior, Jesus Christ grew so much, I love him and it really is something special that we have an older brother who loves us so much to take upon himself all of our pains so that we can live in the laws of mercy and escape the draining and hard laws of justice. What a blessing!

September 16, 2013

This week was good, kind of nuts, Elder Flores in area centro didn't have a comp for a few days because he got in late to Rio Cuarto from Cordoba, so he was with us for a while, and then we went to Cordoba for a conference with Elder Zeballos of the 70. He’s a cool guy. They made a new rule for the mission. they really want us to focus on families, and we kept baptizing little kids, but without support they fell away really fast, so if we want to baptize a kid younger than 12 years old solo of without his or her family, they need to go to church for 3 months straight before baptism. But if they are with their family only 2 weeks, so with this we need to really focus on baptizing families. I set a personal goal to really force myself to focus on the families, it’s so important that we baptize families and not just single people in a family, there is so much support that come from a family baptism. I love this work and I love the power of families. I love my family, my extended family, my ward family and all those who love and support me, I can feel it every day! I love you all!

September 9, 2013

This week was great, kind of crazy, but way good. I learned a lot. Lots about my Savior, I really am coming to know him more on the mission. This week we met with lots of families that are loving what we are sharing and really feeling the spirit in the lessons and prayers. It’s been great! Saturday we made a cake and put dulce de leche over it. we were going to bring it to a family of investigators but because of complications we didn’t get it to them, so we took it to a single lady in the ward, who lives by herself and is lonely sometimes, so we passed by her house and said Martha, we brought a cake! and we ate the cake together, and she was expressing to us that earlier that day, she was a little sad about her ex husband, and how she misses the good times with him, and then she began to get emotional and said that it’s been a long time since she had a cake for her birthday, and so it really helped her. These sweet single ladies that every ward has are so special, they are angles who really love the Lord and really work hard to keep the commandments. I now feel the importance of making sure these women are not left out and forgotten. They need the service of the Priesthood in their home, and it’s our responsibility as worthy men to give them the service and love they need. I will forever treasure that experience and what I learned from it. I love this work and I love my mission, and I’m so thankful for the opportunity I have to serve. We also had transfers and I’m staying in Alberdi and Elder Parejas is my new companion. He was in my district in Cosquin so I know him pretty well! He’s way cool!


Elder Nelson

Elder Parejas my new comp! he's a good guy! i love him already..
maybe because i know him already ha! but he's awesome! 

September 2, 2013

This week was good, one of the best weeks I’ve had as far as working. My comp and I are really trying to focus on the things we can control and leave in the hands of the lord the things we can’t. We are really trying to Give effort enough so that the Lord can consecrate our efforts. The ward is doing well, the number of less actives in church is going up, many lass actives came yesterday and i feel like lots of them want to keep coming. We found a less active lady whose husband is not a member and her 8 year old daughter wants to be baptized but she wants her dad to baptize her, so her nonmember dad has accepted to start to come to church and listen to us so he will be able to baptize his daughter. So kinda cool, a little ray of hope for us after weeks of little progress, so we are going to work with them so they can reach their goals! We come to the last week of the transfer and I can’t believe it, its flying by so fast! Saturday we get transfer calls and I’m pretty sure I’ll stay here but who knows, anything could happen! Ha I love you all thinks for everything!

Elder Nelson

Elder Flores and Elder Sandoval of my district bought ice cream for my birthday! 
In the photo in order Elder Sandoval de Chile, Elder Cuevas de Buenos Aires, 
Elder Flores de Mexico and me

Pollo asado, or grilled chicken over a fire, everyone goes crazy over asado here, 
its just meat being cooked over coals, i don't see the big deal, 
but everyone loves it here! HaHa

This picture was taken at Jared's farewell open house in December 2012
His Papa passed away September 2, 2013

We were able to talk to Jared on the day of Papa's passing. He is doing well. Loving his mission and the people. His mission president told us he has been a great missionary with a heart of gold. Jared said this "I’ve been praying since I started my mission that he (Papa) would be around after my mission so I could see him again. It’s kind of hard for me to hear, but I’m okay, I’ll be just fine, I know the plan that the Lord has for me and my family and I know that God would not take someone I love away without the opportunity to be with them again, God is a just God and I know all will be well."