Muito Produtivo

Oi!

This week was really productive.  I made goals to open my mouth to new people and introduce them to our church and the Book of Mormon more.  As I worked for these goals, we found a lot of new people to teach.  Some of them weren't very excited, but some of them seemed very interested.  I can't wait to start working with these people! It's a little sad. We are finding all these great people, but with transfers, I think both of us may be leaving. 

We had a 'Castanha' on Tuesday. So caju is actually a fruit. I didn't know about it before coming here.  It has this big nob on the top of it that you take and burn.  Then you crack open the nob and have the nut to eat. It was really good.

Continuando

Sorry, they had to cut the power here at the lan house for a little bit, so they told us to send what we had real quick.  But yeah, castanha was really cool.

This week we opened the Book of Mormon with one kid and asked if we could return to his house and teach him and his family another day, and he said, "My mom is down there." So we followed him. He took off on his bike and got to her about 50 feet ahead of us. He said something to her, and she looked to us, and immediately turned away... She turned to her son and started shaking her head and waving her finger saying no no no no...  When we got there, she is part of the Assembleia de Deus church.  It's this huge church here with a building on every block.  If their members talk to us, then they basically get excommunicated...  So its really hard to teach people of the Assembleia.

I haven't had a real sandwich in 4 months. Yeah, I hit the four month mark this week. Its crazy!  Oh speaking of sandwiches, tuna here is really expensive right now.  Last night the Relief Society gave us some little sandwiches, and they were tuna sandwiches, but they used sardines instead.  I thought that was funny.  They were still really good.  But its funny that they switch to sardines when tuna is expensive.

But the work is going good here.  About ninety percent of what we teach is "if you live how God wants you to live, you will be blessed by Him. This isn't us saying this. This is a promise He made to us in the scriptures hundreds of times!"  Its very true.

We have transfers next week sometime, so when I write next Monday, I should know if I am staying in Jordão or not.

I hope all is well with everyone!  Love you all!

Muitas Coisas

Oi todos!

This week was pretty crazy!  Last P-
day we played some solid basketball with another dupla in our district (Elders Jacklin and Pinheiro). They are really funny.  We had to take some pictures of how sweaty we were afterwards. Then we had a pidgeon outside our front door that just sat there for almost two days.  Had to get a picture with that!  

We had Zone Conference this week, and it was really good! The main take away was "Abrir sua boca!"  or open your mouth!  I think that is something I can really do better at ... just talking in whatever situation I'm in.  It's going to be the best for helping others and for helping me learn Portuguese faster. I also met Elder Farnsworth from Mapleton, Utah there.  He is a zone leader right now, and it was really cool to see someone so close to home. It's funny that I had to come all the way to Brasil to meet someone that lives 5 minutes from my house!

I saw a monkey this week. This lady just had it sitting next to her.  So we asked her if it was vaccinated, and she assured us it was all vaccinated.  So we took some pictures with it on our shoulders.  It was really cool.  I look really scared because it was grabbing at my ear the whole time.

Our investigators are doing good. The biggest miracle this week was that R---- found work this week.  He is going to drive a bus for the city. We got all the papers ready for their wedding last week, and this week he finally found work.  The Lord truly blesses us when we put our faith in Him!  Their going to get married the second week of February, after Carnival.

I've have a rash that just won't go away. It started the first week I arrived in the mission field and has lingered. I decided it was time to mention it to Sister Houseman who set me up an appointment with a doctor to take a look. He prescribed some antibiotic. We'll see how that works. Not a big deal. Pretty common with the heat and humidity here.

This week was good!  I hope that everything is well, and everyone is healthy!  Love you all!

Love,

Elder Nielson

Semana Loco!

Oi todos!

This week was great.  First, we had a baptism this Saturday.  M---- has been receiving lessons for 4 or 5 months.  We committed her for baptism last week, but she wanted to have her whole family there to see it.  This week before the interview, she was saying that she didn't feel ready.  She wanted to have a perfect conviction before baptism, and a perfect knowledge of everything.  After explaining to her that we never have a perfect knowledge, after the interview, she felt ready.  She had all of her family there!  They were all attentive, and I cant wait to start working with all of them.  But Sunday, she didn't come to church, she wasn't in her house, and we didn't know what to do for her confirmation.  But she came near the end of Sacrament Meeting and was confirmed.  It was awesome!  Many times she has come to church all on her own.  She has so much faith, and I know that with her example, her family can be blessed too.

We had Interviews with President Houseman Wednesday, and it was really cool to get to know him a little better and get to speak with him for a while.  I have the best mission president.  He is awesome. He had great answers to questions, and inspired advice!  He is really good, I don't even know how to explain it to you guys.

One of the members of our district went home Friday.  He has really bad issues with his knees, so he  is going to fix these things, and hopefully they can get really get better, and he can return.

We still have our issues, but there is a lot of work to do here in Jordão.  I'm excited to continue, and to find new ways to help everyone here.  It is so cool to see people make the decision to follow Christ and try to better their lives to follow him.  I love this work and all the people that I get to talk to.

Thanks for all the support. Love you guys!

Elder Nielson

Bom Semana

Oi!  

This week was pretty good, I had a division with Elder Jacklin (another American from Utah).  It was really cool.  Everyone was saying "Oi Alemãs,"  which means, "Hey Germans,"  They all think that we are German because we have lighter hair and eyes.  It's really funny.  But we found 6 new investigators, and I learned so much.  I learned how to better transition between parts of the lessons and how to make better contacts in the street.  

It was cool to be walking in the street with another Americano. We spoke Portuguese until 9 pm when we returned to our house, but after, it was pretty much English, which was really good.  I continued learning so much, even after a whole day of learning.  He is a really cool guy.

I also saw a drug deal the other day.  We were leaving G-----'s house, and in the alley close by there were two guys.  One was handing the other money, and the other was handing him white powder.  It was a little sketch.  

Today we played some soccer inside the church, and that was really fun.  We ate the remainder of our barbeque from last week.  It was a pretty solid P-day.

I had the oppotunity to fast this week.  Fasting is really different in the mission field.  You can feel how much more clear your head is.  All the testimonies were about the Expiação de Jesus Cristo or the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  My testimony is that Christ loves us so much.  He died for us, and we are the ones to make the decision to partake of his Atonement.  Through him we can be made perfect again.  And we can feel peace in knowing that he knows what we are feeling during difficulties.

I hope you all have a great week!  I love you guys so much!

Love, 

Elder Nielson

Feliz Ano Novo!

First, sorry for not writing yesterday, Everything was shut down and so President Houseman is having us write home today.  I am in another area today writing because every Lan house in Jordão either didn't have electricity or didn't have Internet.  

Speaking of which, we haven't had electricity for the past 5 days.  I've never been so grateful for the little flashlight that dad bought that runs on a AA battery.  The new secretary forgot to pay the utility company and, with the holidays, it has been really hard to figure it all out.  So hopefully today we can get our lights back on!  We ran out of drinking water Sunday and couldn't buy more until today, so we have been visiting members to drink water a lot.  The pictures below are of me last night with the flashlight.

Yesterday, we had p-day, and met here in Massaranduba. We had a barbecue with our district and zone leaders.  We played a little basketball and then a ton of soccer.  It was really fun, but I'm a little sore today.  

Almost everyone here was crazy drunk yesterday.  We had a guy fall out of his chair and slide under us while we were riding the bus to Massaranduba. I think that new years was definitely bigger here than Christmas.  At midnight, fireworks started and went for about 15 or 20 minutes straight.  It wasn't just one or two people doing them, it was everyone, and they were massive fireworks, so that was a little scary.  Our house was shaking, and we had light for about 20 mins because the fireworks were filling the house with light.  

But we are all good here in Brasil. I haven't died yet.  I can feel the hand of the Lord in every aspect of my life.  My miracle this week is about my ankles.  Probably three or four times a week I take a weird step and twist my ankle and almost fall.  But never once have I hurt myself.  At home, every time I would take a weird step, I sprained it pretty bad.  I am so thankful for my time here in the mission, and for every opportunity I have to serve others.

Love,

Elder Nielson