Video Chat - New and Different

The new policy for missionaries to video chat rather than write home has unintended consequences, one of which is that there is no letter to post to Elder Nielson's Missionary Blog.

We video chatted with Elder Nielson for just under two hours yesterday, and it was great. I doubt we will talk that long most weeks, but that is the time limit President Houseman has set. I'll try to recreate some of the highlights and continue the blog for those who read it. Elder Nielson said he would still try to send an email of happenings, but we will see.

Life in the office is different but enjoyable. Elder Nielson is enjoying the work and his new surroundings. But he's finding that tracking information from a couple hundred missionaries is a daunting task. For example, he will send out an email requesting information from a number of missionaries. It takes several follow ups and reminders to get everything he needs. But it is certainly a life skill that will have many applications in the future.

Elder Nielson and his companion had a baptism Saturday night. It was a man who had been taught but wasn't progressing. But he showed up to church and said that the Spirit told him that the LDS church had so much good and he needed to be involved with it. So they were excited to set a date and have him join. They area also working with a couple who isn't married that have one child. They hope to get them married soon so they can be baptized.

One of the things Elder Nielson loves is fruit drinks that they make there. He said that we think we have a lot of fruit choices in our stores in America, but Brazil has about 10 times more varieties of fruits. So he loves getting fruit drinks/juice. He also loves Brazilian coxhina. they are tear-drop shaped breaded dough full of yummy meat filling. He thinks he could sell them when he comes home out of a food truck.

Anyway, more to come directly from Elder Nielson in future posts.

Questions About Mission Office Life

1. Is the mission office air conditioned?
    Yes the office is air conditioned.

2. Is your apartment at the mission office? Nice apartment or about the same?
    We have an apartment separate from the mission office.  Our apartment is really big and older, because there used to be a bunch of mission secretaries. It has 3 bathrooms, 3 rooms, a kitchen, a family room, and a balcony.

3. How many elders serve in the office besides the AP?
    Right now we have 3 of us in the office.  Elder Price (still) Elder R. Nunes (my comp) and Elder Couto.  R Nunes is the housing secretary, and Couto is the financial secretary.  But we have two missionary couples and a sister that also work in the office. So Elder Couto is training Elder Merrell to take over for him next transfer.  So the only two secretaries next transfer will be Elder R. Nunes and me.  President doesn't use a ton of secretaries, and the couples help out a ton.

4. Tell us more about your duties.
     So I handle the weekly schedule. Mostly the interviews that President has to do with every district, and special interviews on P-days.  I have to handle the visas for all of the missionaries, and all of the temple missionaries too (that come from out of the country).  I prepare the mission journal or newsletter that has President Houseman's message, birthdays for the week, important information (for everyone), the baptisms that happened the previous week, the mission calendar (about 3 weeks into the future). But the biggest task is the visas. And I kind of do security.  I have a second monitor that lets me see all the cameras here, and I can open up the gates to let people in, so that is pretty fun. 

5. Are you companions with one of the APs or with another office staff missionary?
    The AP's are comps, and I am comps with Elder R. Nunes (who is an elder from my group).  Elder Price is with Elder Couto.  So I am Elder Price's comp when we are in the office until we leave at 5 pm. Then I am Elder R. Nunes's comp.

6. Is your new area a good part of the city?
    It's a pretty good area. I am still trying to get to know it. There are lots of buildings and apartments, and it is really tough to enter them without a referral. We work a lot more in the ghettos where the houses are more accessible. In the apartments the standard of living is pretty good, but the ghettos are about like the ghettos in every area that I already have served in.

7. Is the mission home part of the mission office or separate? Is your apartment near the mission office?
    The mission home is separate from the office. It is about 10 minutes from the office in a car and about 20 or 30 minutes walking. Our apartment is really close to the office. It's about 4 minutes walking distance.

8. What is Elder Price doing?
    Elder Price is training me in the office.  He will help me to learn everything that I need to in this transfer so that i can take over and keep up the work next transfer.

We don't eat lunch with the members during the week. We only get a half hour for lunch every day, and we receive extra money to grab something to eat quickly during the week. We only eat with the members on Sundays. 

It is pretty cool, I am liking it a lot.  There is a lot of things to remember, but I know I can do it.

9. Your thoughts on the new policy for missionaries calling home.
     I don't know how I feel about it. I feel like it could turn into a pretty big distraction for a lot of missionaries. It would be good for missionaries that don't come from a family of members to help them see their testimony grow, and help their family join the church.  I even think it would be worse in the start of the mission. If I was suffering with homesickness and was seeing you guys weekly, I think it would slow down the adjusting process. Sometimes you just need to be thrown in, it will hurt to adjust, but it will happen a lot faster. So I will see what happens here. There is a pretty good chance we won't get to Skype every week, but I think its pretty likely that we will be able to use chat and talk back and forth on my P-day.  We are waiting to see what President wants to do.

Love you too!
Elder Nielson

I'm Shocked!

So much has changed.  I received a phone call from Sister Houseman during lunch, talking about a medical appointment for my eczema, and when she finished talking about it, she said, "Oh. President and I wanted to talk to you about something really important together."  President came to the phone and asked if I would accept the designation to be the new Executive Secretary of the mission. I had to stop for a second and think and process what he had said.  He asked, "Are you still there?"  And I had to ask him to repeat the question again because it really caught me off guard.

So I am already in Recife today, and I am starting to receive my training this transfer so that I can take over for Elder P---- next transfer.  It will be really different. We are in the office from 9a - 5p, and we do normal missionary work from 5p - 9p.  My P-Day will switch to Saturday.  President was running a little behind with his interviews today, so Sister Houseman sent me with the Assistants to use the Lan house.  We will eat something real quick and return to the office.  It sounds like it is a 6 month calling, so I should be here until one or two transfers before I go home.

I am trying to learn all the ropes here.  I think I will have more to tell you on Saturday!

Love you all!

Elder Nielson

Outra Semana

This week was pretty normal.  We did a split with the Elders in San Martin, and Elder O. M------ got to stay in our area and lead the work.  He did great! They only got lost once for about 5 minutes, which is pretty awesome for the first time!  Elder A------- is still a great missionary, and their area is doing well.  I like the view form their apartment of the church.

Last week as a district we only had 4 people that came to church.  This week we worked hard to make plans with our investigators to go to church and, joined with a little fasting, we were able to bring 20 people to church yesterday.  I was really happy to see the Lord blessing our district.  It was really good.

R-------- was confirmed yesterday, and we were able to mark her daughter G--- for baptism on February 15th.  We are really excited. We have already brought lots of members to meet them so that they feel more comfortable at church.

But other than this, it has been really normal here.  Not really too much to report.  I finished Jesus the Christ a few weeks ago, and I forgot to tell you. I am now just trying to finish up reading some of the footnotes that I didn't read at the start. But it is an excellent book.  It really helps us to understand the New Testament, and helps us to understand the teachings of Christ more clearly. 

I think this week our Young Mens President will call us over to his house to do a service project and we will break down some brick walls with a sledge hammer, so I am pretty stoked about that. 

I hope that everything is going well back home! Wish Riley a happy birthday, and let him know that I remembered his birthday when I was planning.

Love
Elder Nielson