March 10, 2014

This week has been long but great! We are really working with two people in helping them get baptized. Victor is new, we taught the 1st lesson on Saturday and he wants to be baptized and he came to church on Sunday. He’s got to quit a few things but he is excited to change! He is 28 and he wants a wife and kids and his own house and stuff. He’s a cool guy and lots of the members naturally came to love him, no doubt finding him was inspired. He is speaking English, not very well, but enough to understand him. He’s fun. Not a big update this week ,but the branch is improving lots! :) I love this work and no doubt in my mind there is an eternal purpose to it!

Elder Nelson

March 3, 2014

Hi! So nice of you to stop by and catch up on Jared and his adventures! Jared would love letters! It doesn't have to be much he just likes to have a connection with home and the people he loves! You can e-mail him at jared.nelson@myldsmail.net or he also loves letters in the mail. It is much slower but does get to him in a few weeks. That address is:

Elder Jared Nelson
Argentina Cordoba Mission
Gay Lussac 5270, Villa Gelgrano
Apartado Postal No 49-X5009 ZAA
C.C. 17 Suc 9, Cordoba
ARGENTINA

If you would like to send the letter to me I will forward it on to him. I am going to try and do better at getting him hand written letters on a regular basis so I can just add your letter to mine if you would like. (We e-mail him every week but haven't hand written as much.)

This week I am including his letter too me. I just thought it was fun and shows his personality a little more and some good reminders!
Mamma,

Howdy! Well this week was good. Normal, stress, laughing, fun, all of it. We are finding new investigators and really helping them move forward. It’s hard though ha. I never realized how much friendship is needed in conversion, not just go with the missionaries to a lesson but things on the side in our own time. There is a sister in our ward named Sister Juarez, she has a beautiful family and her husband is from Mexico. Very cool people and I love them so much, she is a great example of friend-shipping outside of Sunday mornings. She visits more less active members than we do weekly. she is always making cards or food or whatever for people just to brighten their day, she is the primary president in the branch is she is amazing, she is very active in making things happen, and she feeds the 4 of us every Sunday after church. She is very good at her food storage and very obedient in many things and I look up to her so much. She is anxiously engaged in a good cause. I want to be like that after my mission, always involved in doing good. It is really what baptizes people, not the missionaries knocking doors, but real friendship. That is something I learned this week. Something funny is my companion from Peru. I am helping him learn English, and he is learning lots of funny little phrases and randomly in his latin accent says, "Are you a fabulous man?" I died because it was so funny. I don’t know why but it killed me, then we also found a sleeping dog in the park and my comp ran up to it and scared the crap out if it, I got it on video, but the dog jumped like a foot in the air. Good stuff. I’m doing good, I love you tons! no package yet, and the music didn’t work for the dvd player I’m trying to play it on, not sure why i guess its just the file, but the files that work are regular mp3. Thanks for everything you’re awesome love you!

Villa Maria is sinking. The river is overflowing and leaking into residential areas, I will send pictures but its nuts. Many houses have water leaking into their houses and streets are full of water. There has been so much rain in the mountains that the dyke has so much water in it and its leaking all over the place. There is a chance that if we receive more rain and more water, this dyke could break and Villa Maria would be flooded with up to 4 meters of water. So let’s hope this dyke stays strong and holds in all the water. That is why we must be prepared for anything. The prophets say we need food storage, with water and food. Many homes have been cut off of electricity and water, so the people need to find their water in other places. But if you’re prepared, need not fear. We have been teaching a lot too, many great people that just fault a little bit to find their testimony. This week was interesting. I was really stressed out for a few days, no idea why, but relying on the Savior and his atonement really helps along with a great fast Sunday! We are working hard with lots of visits. I love this work!

Elder Nelson

 Cereal Argentine style, milk in a bag! 

Catholic cathedral right by our apartmente 

Amphitheater 

Augustina and her brother Ben,
Agustina just got baptized, and I was able
 to confirm her.
It was a few weeks ago, She is way sharp
and loves the Book of Mormon 

Me and Carlitos!
He is a member and lives in and old folks home.
He can't really talk but loves the missionaries so much

Flooded river into the neighborhoods 

Flooded river into the neighborhoods 

Flooded river into the neighborhoods 

Flooded river into the neighborhoods 

A cat we saved from an owl that was about to eat it,
he's chillin' in the bag of my comp 

Me and Elder Owens

February 24, 2014

This week has been great, we are finding lot of new families and working a lot with the members. Once we started to get more numbers in the week, we found more success. The more sheep we talk to the more sheep we find. We are teaching the lawyer Eduardo and he has come to church the last two weeks and really likes it, he has lots of friends in the church, now we have got to find out why he’s a little apprehensive about baptism. He wants to be baptize but feels like it should be later like a month later, but the spirit will help him. Saturday we got to go to a conference in Cordoba. The whole mission was there and so were Elder Ballard and Elder Rasband, with Elder Ceballos and a few other seventy. It was a powerful conference, BIG focus on the member missionary work. We got to shake their hand, it was a most spiritual experience being there and feeling of the powerful spirit. The things they taught rang true in my heart. I know this is the work of the Lord and I know that this is His church. When we come to know where we came from and our true destiny, we will come not only to have peace but learn that our heavenly father is a merciful loving God, and we are on a path, to become like him. I thank God for our savior whom he had chosen since the beginning of time to drink of the bitter cup that had to be drunk, to only fulfill the great plan established. I love this gospel!



Elder Nelson

February 17, 2014

This week was full of miracles! I testify of the power of prayer and fasting. I have made it a goal to pray with more faith, so that my prayers reach the Heavens, and diligently fast looking for the spirit. It’s amazing what miracles have come with prayer, fasting and planning. We fasted and prayed for Eduardo our investigator and we had a great lesson with him this week that was exactly what he needed. Then he came to a baptism and church this week really interested. He said in the sacrament meeting he could really feel the presence of God. I love that man. All these things have come from faith and diligence. It was a great week and I thank my father in heaven.

Elder Nelson

February 10, 2014

This week has been great, I really don't remember much, the progression in this area is really slow, we have been trying to focus on reactivating elders. The other day we were walking in a neighborhood that is a little dangerous and a young kid came up to us, he was about 11 years old, and i noticed his Boston Celtics t-shirt and I commented on it, and he said yeah I love basketball, and then he said, go to my house and talk to my family, so we went with him to his house and met with his family, we had a good lesson with them, we invited his dad to be baptized and he said if he received his answer he would be baptized so, that was really cool and about the only highlight of this week. i know this work is true and can only be done by worthy servants. i think of the words of Elder Holland when he said sanctify yourselves bretheren, talking about how we will never know when we are needed! We must always been clean and ready to serve him! We never know who we might need to save. i love this work. 

Elder Nelson

February 3, 2014

Oh my gosh I wanna cry!!!!!!!!! I have been waiting for this year all of my life, my Hawks won!!! They killed it, I love Peyton but I’m so glad the hawks kick butt and shut up the critics! I always had the feeling the Seahawks would win when I was on my mission. (Yep! He has said that since the Seahawks went to the Superbowl the last time!  Glad we have technology and he will be able to watch the game when he returns in December! I know he will love it then too!)  but I’ll talk more about that 10 months from now.....


This week was great for me personally as well as the branch, we have a new branch president who is really doing good work, coming from Rosario since 10 months he had served as a bishop and in the stake presidency over there and now he is here to clean up the branch here, such a great guy, his name is Presidente Torricela (Tori Chela). After hearing about miracles that come from the power of prayer I decided to better my prayers and to really say them as if I was talking to God in person. I then realized the importance to be 100 percent exact obedient and seek the power of the spirit in all I do. As I pray more often, repent more often and seek the spirit, I see changes in how I act and how I do the work. The Spirit is everything, like it says in Doctrine and Covenants, I receive the spirit by the prayer of faith and if I have not the spirit I shall not teach.

We were walking in the street the other day and a man stopped and started to look at us, I saw him and walked by and said , Hola como esta, and we began to strike up a conversation walking side by side in the street, I asked him what he did for work, he said he’s a lawyer, he asked us if we were missionaries, I said yep, have to talked to guys like us before, he said yeah a few times, then I asked him a questions as if it didn't come from me but the Lord, I asked have you read the Book of Mormon before, he said I’ve had it in my hands a few times and read it a bit, then another inspired question flew out of my mouth as if it came from the Lord and not me, I said, have you prayed to ask God if what you read was true....he then said, I didn’t know that was part of it, I then testified to him of the power of prayer and that God answers, he said, come by my place when you can, we will talk more about this, and now he is reading the Book of Mormon and we challenged him to pray. I just love those kinds of moments when you feel like the Lord really is guiding people to you, even if they stop right in front of you in the street. Elder Rivera is great I love him so much we are thrilled with our new investigator. We are trying to make changes in the area, and we see a bright future! I love this work and my savior! :)

Elder Nelson

Go Hawks!

Proud "Dad"

January 27, 2014

I feel like I’ve gone through a great build up week. I can feel the atonement working in me. It’s amazing how when we get close to the Lord, we can begin to see the great work he does in us. I watched the talk by Pres Eyring from October 2012 called where is the pavilion I think, and he talks about how when we go away from the lord we feel like he leaves us, but he never leaves us, he’s always there, but when we come to the Lord like he comes to us, we will never lose him. Elder Rivera is doing great, I feel like he’s training me, I’ve learned some really great lessons from him, he asks me a lot of questions, especially about the rules of the mission, like why? Why do we do this, why is it this way, and when I answer I learn. The doctrine always gives us the answer why, so as we study the doctrine we will know why we have to do things and we will change. We can find the doctrine in the scripture in conference talks, but every time someone begins to study doctrine, they begin to change. Elder Packer says when one understands the true doctrine, he will changes his attitude and behavior. This is true and I see it as my companion makes me look for the reasons WHY. I love this gospel and I love my Savior, I pray that not only I can become like him but I pray this gospel will spread rapidly so we all can become like Him.

Cordoba Temple in progress

Me and Elder Rivera

My Companion and I with President and Sister Alliaud

Finally got the Christmas packages! ha

Service project with the Juarez family