Boa Semana

Ola todos!

This week was better.  We found a lot of people with a ton of potential as we started moving outside of the little zone we were using.  Unfortunately none came to church with us.  Only George!  We are really excited and he will be baptized this Saturday.  Every time that we teach him, he tells us how he is just feeling more and more excited to be baptized, so this week will be focused on helping him to be baptized.

Other than that, this week was just a big race.  We had Zone Conference, and it was really good.  President Houseman spoke about how we need to be his little mosquitoes, and seek out and teach people with the faith and persistence of mosquitoes.  It is a really good analogy.

Elder Gomes and I woke up early almost every day this week to run.  We run to the beach, and follow the beach for a little, and return.  It is such a cool feeling to be so close to a beach.  I think I included some pictures.

Also today, when we were coming to the lan house, we stopped to take a picture next to a gate that is really funny.  It says, "Careful, Angry Dog" in Portuguese, and has a dog smiling. It is so funny!

We got our Elders Quorum presidency set in place yesterday.  They all seem pretty good, and they really were emphasizing that they are the men to go to if someone needs help, and that the Bishop is just for worthiness issues.  Thought that was interesting, they called him the second bishop.

I hope that you are all doing great, and have a good week this week.

Elder Nielson

Wow...

Hello everyone!

This week started tough.  Our investigator that was progressing the most fell through, and yesterday, the 4 people we had marked for baptism all fell through except for G-----.  So we were really sad.  But yesterday we looked at the map, and we were using very little of the space in our area.  Less than one tenth.  Everything in this small space was going wrong, so we just left and started contacting far away from there.  In places a little closer to the Chapel, so we could bring them to church easier.  We met a young man named R------.  And after we met M-----, and asked him if he knew R------, and they are already friends.  Then they brought some other friends to talk to us.  

It was really cool. We are going there tonight to teach all of them, and tomorrow they said they would go to Mutual. I know that the difficulties we were having in our area were because of where we were working.  I hope that as we are trying hard to expand our area of work that we will be blessed.  

Wednesday our LD asked me to prepare a training and give it at District Meeting.  So I had to prepare Wednesday night, and a little Thursday morning.  But it went really well.  It was about using questions that grab the persons attention while contacting.  So that they are a little more curious. The idea is to ask questions about what they already believe, affirm that we believe the same, and they will be more likely to accept a visit.

But other than this, it was a normal week. 

Apartments vary in our mission. This apartment is a little better than in Jordão.  But it is a little more cramped with 4 of us. So it is more difficult to do laundry and stuff.  And we don't have a clothes line, just a strange cage thing that you put your clothes on to dry.  The microwave is a little newer, but the fridge is about the same.  We live on the third floor, so the stairs are always great when you are finishing a long day. haha.  But its great here. I really like living with 3 other missionaries. A lot more happens when you are in house.

That's cool that Kade Hillstead had pictures of baptisms in the ocean. We live right by the ocean, but I don't know if President will authorize a baptism in the ocean. Maybe if one investigator really wanted it, but we have lots of sharks here, so not many people enter the water.

I hope all is well at home. Love you all!

Elder Nielson

Ola Tudos!!!

This week was crazy.  It rained every day for a week, and the street in front of our house was full of water yesterday.  I almost left our house in a pair of big rain boots that we have in our house, but the other elders advised against this idea.

Tuesday was tough.  Our investigator marked for Saturday told us that she can't talk to us any more.  Her mom started going crazy when she heard that she wanted to be baptized.  J-------- went to her mom and said, "I want to be baptized so I can serve a mission."  And her mom didn't like the idea of serving a mission.  So she is trying to stop her from being baptized.  J-------- is 18, so she can sign her own ficha, but she doesn't want to fight with her mom.  So we didn't have the chance to talk to her this week.  But we found a boy named J-------- that accepted the baptismal invite for 14th of April.  He came to church with us yesterday and really liked it.  But his mom seems like she will give us trouble too. He lives with his dad, so we will be doing everything we can to help him.

Conference was great.  Saturday I watched in Portuguese because they were having problems with putting English in another room.  But yesterday I watched with another American in English.  It was great to hear the voice of the prophet.  He made a lot of changes, but I know that every one of them was inspired of God.  He is the only man that can receive this revelation, and it will help us all to be better members and friends.  

President Nelson is going to be a great prophet, and he was already speaking with such great power.  It is cool to see our church leaders speak and think about what it would be like to have the Spirit so strong in your life.  It is something we can all try to live to achieve, as President Nelson invited us to do.  It was a great conference, and I felt the Spirit so strong. I got a lot out of it and will be working to apply these things for the next 6 months.

Things are good here, I had a split with Elder Gomes and I learned a ton.  He is a great missionary, and I am glad that I can work closely with him because he has a lot that he can teach me.  

Everyone here celebrated the death and resurrection of Christ by drinking.  It's awful to see this.  But the members were really good to us.  They eat what they call "peixe de coco"  or "fish of the coconut."  It was really good.  And they do eggs here too.  The only one that I saw was a big chocolate egg with caramel inside.  It was really good.  

But this is it. It was a good week, and I am excited to keep working through this week.  I hope you all have a great week!!!

Com Amor

Elder Nielson

These are the pictures I took last week for 6 months in the mission!!!  Its crazy to think of how fast it is going!  Quero ser melhor cada dia mais!

Six Months!!

Olá todos!!!

Today marks 6 months since I entered the CTM.  It's crazy to think about.  But it's true.  I have had so many amazing experiences already, and can't hardly believe that I am already a quarter of the way through my mission.  

We had transfers Wednesday, and I am now in Jardim Massangana.  I traveled there on my own because President changed how transfers work.  This area isn't very far from Jordão, but I had to grab a bus, the metro, and another bus to get here, and with three bags, it was a bit of a struggle, but I made it there in one piece.  I live in an apartment with another dupla (companionship).  I am the only american with 3 Brazilians, so that will be great for my Portuguese.  I am super excited for this transfer, and to just  learn the area and work hard to help everyone.

Elder D------ is great.  He is from São Paulo and has 1 year and 5 months in the mission.  So I can definitely learn some things from his experience.  The other dupla is our LD (district leader).  So that's cool.  I can ask him for help whenever, and he can help me out.  And we don't have to call to report our numbers.  

Elder D------ likes the same music that I do.  Classic rock! So a lot of times we will be walking in the street, and he will just start singing.  It's really funny.  He is a really calm person, and I think that we will get along great.

We already found some new people to teach.  They didn't have any investigators when I got here because they had two baptisms last week. We found one young lady and taught her the first lesson. We asked her what she already knew about the Book of Mormon. She has already been going to church and seminary.  She testified that she knows it is true, and that the church is true, and that this is what she wants to follow.  So we invited her to be baptized and she accepted.  Her mom is being a little difficult, so this week we will be working to help her be baptized on Saturday.  She is 18 and can sign her own baptismal record, but we hope we can get her mother on board so there aren't bad feelings. 

This week was great, and I am just trying to learn the new area.  We are really close to the beach.  I can throw a stone from our house to the beach.  Our first lunch on Wednesday was in a huge house that is really close to the beach.  I don't even want to know the cost of it. It was a big change from the houses in Jordão.  But the area we work in is more like Jordão with alleys and all that good stuff.

I hope everyone had a great week. The area has some people really rich, and some that arent so rich, but everyone is really great!  The members are awesome,and help us out.  Our really good investigators were references, so it is awesome.

The area has some people really rich, and some that arent so rich, but everyone is really great!  The members are awesome,and help us out.  Our really good investigators were references, so it is awesome.

I am loving it here, and things are going great!  

I hope you all have a good week. Love you guys!

Elder Nielson

Busy Week!

Oi todos!

First, I want to let you all know that we have a transfer Wednesday.  I will be leaving Jordão and Elder F----- for an area called Jardim Massangana to be companions with Elder D. S----.  He has been out a year and a little in the mission, so I can definitely learn a lot from him.  This is his second transfer in this area, so he will know lots of people that we can go to work with. I'm pretty excited.  It is not far from my current area, but it's in a different zone.  I will be just a couple of blocks from the beach, so that will be a little tough.

It's going to be sad to leave my first area, but it will be good for my growth I think.  All the members in Jordão are saying that I have learned everything I can here.  They all remember that I came here not knowing how to speak hardly any Portuguese, but now I speak Portuguese (somewhat). It is definitely coming along.  I'm so thankful for all that the members did here to help me learn Portuguese and to help me grow as a missionary.  Jordão will always have a big space in my heart!

We had a split this week, and I went to Muribeca with Elder Haynie!  He was in my group when we got here.  He was in my CTM District.  So it was awesome!  I learned so much, and it was cool to see that 5 months ago we didn't know how to speak hardly any Portuguese, but we went the whole day speaking it like it was nothing. It was just normal.  So that was cool to see. We have come so far in just 4 months. It is incredible how much the Lord is helping us. Also, Dad, one member works at a hot dog stand and made 30 cm hot dogs for each of us!  It was way good!  We woke up at 6 am and went for a run, and Elder Haynie chose a route with some hills, so it was really fun!

We had a Baptism!!!!!! Last Sunday a 9 year old girl named Anna J---- came to us and said she wanted to be baptized.  She had been going to church for 3 years, and her dream was always to be baptized by her uncle.  So we went there every day and taught her everything.  She understood it all, and she was baptized Saturday.  She is really smart.  

R---- and J--- have a date set for marriage -- 18th of April.  It's sad that I wont get to see it all happen, but its good to know that He will be baptized soon.  

For the first time this transfer, we hit our goal for contacts as a companionship.  Elder F---- finally started doing at least one contact a day, and with some additional hard work, we reached our goal.  So it was a great way to finish the transfer -- with a baptism and a goal finally reached.

With regard to the brother in your ward who gave his talk in less than perfect English, I feel the same way that he does.  It's tough at times trying to express yourself in front of lots of people when you don't know their language perfectly. But I have great respect for those who are trying their best and believe the Spirit makes up for language barriers. It sounds like it did in your meeting on Sunday as well. 

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

Love 

Elder Nielson

Batismo??? Não :(

Oi!

We had a baptism marked for this Saturday, and when we called to tell him we were heading to the chapel for the interview Friday, R----- started saying he wanted to put it off until after his divorce was finalized.  We told him to come to the chapel so we could talk a little, and he said he would come.  Then his phone was shut off.  Elder H----- and I ran to his house, and eventually found R----- in his sister's house.  He was hiding there with two members that are friends of his.  And one of them was telling him that if he is baptized he will be excommunicated.  He was married, and they separated 3 years ago.  He recently started dating a member, and she showed the church to him.  They aren't breaking the Law of Chastity, so we there is no problem that way.  His divorce will be finalized in 3 or so weeks.  But he believed the member saying this stuff.  So he didn't want to be baptized.

It's good that he wants to do it right. He really has a desire to be baptized, and I think he really believes that it's a problem to.  He wasn't using it as an excuse to not be baptized.  But its interesting to see how the devil can even work through members to destroy something good.  So that all made this weekend tough. 

Our area is good, we had a baptism fall through, but we have another person that wants to be baptized this week.  We don't know her name yet, but we will meet here tonight at 6pm.  She has been attending our ward, her parents are less active, and her uncle invited us to teach her everything again so she can be baptized Saturday.  So we will see how that goes.

We had interviews with President Houseman, and he helped me a lot.  I asked how I can motivate my companion, and he said "just keep it up.   You can do everything you can, keep trying harder every day,  but if he doesn't act for himself, you can't force him to do anything."  He shared a cool experience from when he was talking with Elder Bednar.  Elder Bednar talked about a list of tips for missionaries in the Bednar family.  Every return missionaries adds to the list, and they only share it with members of the family when they leave for a mission.  

One son added this to the list: "You really have two missions; your area, and your companion."  President gave me some advice that applied to this, and I left there feeling a lot better.  It's still tough not having someone that wants to work as hard as I do, but it's all for a reason.  

We are doing good here. It's still really hot, and I can't wait for it to start cooling off a little bit, but that won't be for a while.  

Love you all, and hope my email finds you all well and safe!

Elder Nielson

Ola todo!

First I would like to talk a little about Elder Bednar!

He is a little shorter than he appears in General Conference.  When he walked in, we all stood up, and he was hard to see. He is pretty short.  But he was awesome.  First thing he said, " You are not going to write everything I say."  We all had started writing what he was saying, and looked up really confused.  He wanted us to write what the Spirit was saying to us, and not what he was saying.  I entered the meeting fasting, and it made it all the better!  The Spirit was so strong.  He just had a question and answer session going. We studied four talks prior to the meeting, and he asked what we learned, and everyone was answering, and he would ask one follow up question.  It was really cool!

He taught us in a very straight forward relaxed way.  He didn't give a talk, but rather asked us questions and testified and taught as we answered.  It was such a good experience.  He was so calm and every word made you think.  It was really a cool experience.

One comment that stuck out to me was this: "Our prayers start when we say Amen."  Meaning that we need to pray with faith, but faith is a principle of action, so we need to get up and work to make these things happen.  If we pray for the people that weren't at church this week, we have to go out and bring them to church.  It was a cool thought.

Last week at the lan house Elder F----- was watching YouTube. When I saw I told him to leave it, and he was a little angry.  During Companionship inventory, I was praying to talk about this without having any contention.  And that's just what happened. I asked what I can do better, and he opened up and started saying he needed to be better. We left there with a determination to be better. But nothing has changed. So I'm a little frustrated. On top of that, an elder asked me this week "Has he told you he has permission to use Facebook?"  I said, "Yes. President authorized it because his family can't talk any other way."  He said, "No. He says that to all his comps, but it's not true."  

So I asked President Houseman in my email, and we will see what the truth of the matter is. He started talking about going home one transfer early because he is dying.  But then he talks about everything that he is going to watch and buy when he gets home.  So I'm a little worried about him.

We spent the last two P-days at home with our district playing cards and eating food.  I put a picture of the couscous that we ate today for you, Dad.  Also put a picture of a worn out Elder F----- sleeping.  

We did however manage to find some great investigators this week.  We should have one or 2 baptisms coming up here in a little bit.  We have some great investigators.  Rafael, Dora, Anderson, Elba, Marilha, Edimilson, Maira, Felipe, Alice, Lucas. If you could keep them in your prayers, that would be great.  

The first 4 are progressing, and Rafael will be baptized this Saturday, or next Saturday. We have to see when we talk to him tomorrow.

One thing that I am learning to do a lot better is to just talk to people and share the gospel.  I'm trying to meet my goals: I am doing a minimum of 5 contacts between lessons, and I can really see it helping me improve as a missionary.  So I am doing great. Don't worry about me, I am fine! 

I hope all is well at home!

Love

Elder Nielson