Meals By Grace McKay YMSL 12-31-24

Right now we are trying to get 13 hours of service a month for the Congressional Award. December was so crazy we didn't get very much at the beginning so the break was spent doing a lot of service. Today is the last day of December and 2024 and we got in 4 hours today to give us 12.5 for the month. We are feeling pretty good about it. 

We have never volunteered at Meals by Grace on a weekday. It was interesting. We would get paired up with a shopper and we would help them pick out their food for the week. 

We had scanners that we recorded everything on. 

I wasn't sure how McKay would feel about it, but he was a champ. He helped all the people and was sweet with everyone.

It's so fun for me to watch my boys being awesome humans.

Organizing shopping bags.

Unloading a new shipment.

One of the kids that I substitute came with his family. It broke my heart how much they are struggling. It was fun to hold his little brother. Life is hard. There are so many good people out there to help with how hard life is. Also, I am grateful for Heavenly Father who helps us when life is hard. 

Tea Party with Dustins

The Dustins were all together for Christmas (two of their girls came home) and asked me if we could do a tea party. Of course I was all in! I taught Savannah and Sophie seminary. It was so fun to be with them again!

I may have gone a little crazy on the food. We had banana and zucchini bread, cucumber and egg salad tea sandwiches, raspberry scones and crumpets. Not to mention all of the yummy stuff the Dustins brought! We had done service earlier that morning at Save the Horses and I was pretty tired after all of this, but it was so fun!

We had accents and talked about whatever British things we could think of (actually most of it was about Disney cruises:). It was so fun!

I hope we get to do this again next year!

Hunter Mission December 26-30 2024

Whats up everyone Merry Christmas (again) hope it all went super awesome. This ones is going to be a short one because its only been like 3 days since my last email but here we go.

First off we got transfer news and I get to stay with the best como ever Elder Wilson for another transfer! We're going to be cooking this transfer so look out for all the milagros coming to Quillota.

We had a kid from our ward get called to the Buenos Aires Argentina mission and he will be leaving in March so like that's super cool. 

Besides that the only funny story I got is the fact I had to give a talk this last Sunday. It's like you're a missionary so that's not a big deal. What is a big deal is the fact that they told me 30mins before sacrament meeting started . But as every missionary knows you always gotta have a talk ready on hand, so I look through my notes to see what I cooked up in the MTC (missionary trainning center) the only problem is that in the MTC I didn't know Spanish so it didn't make sense. So imma just give this one to he miracles from God that I somehow found enough spanish words in my vocabulary to fill up a 12 minute gap. It actually went really well and was a great experience for me.

Anyway that's all I got hope you guys have a great week quick thought, the only opinion that actually matters to you should be how God sees you. So think about how he is seeing you right now and then act in the way that would make him proud 

Love you guys! 

Elder Nelson (Hunter)

Lincoln Mission December 24-30 2024

All of the idols the people saved and put in the church building. Lincoln wasn't happy about it. 

The missionaries and a bunch of families moved into the church building.

Lots of destruction.

Lincoln's Christmas Eve dinner. 

Unloading the supply boats. 

The people got some clothing donations and the missionaries tried them on...

Baptism on P-day

 This week was kinda wild

Flood

On the night of the 23rd and into the morning of Christmas Eve, we experienced a flood that wiped out the village. We did what we could to save what we could, but houses collapsed from the strong currents and the entire terrain became unrecognizable. We were able to get people to the church and set up hammocks for them to sleep. 

God's Hand

An experience I won't forget is when a kid told me that as the flood was worsening, he prayed that his house would be ok. His house was one of the few that experienced little to no damage. His faith was amazing. It made me so happy to here about his experience. He just got baptized today as well. 

Relief

After the flood, the church quickly organized relief to provide the village with what they needed. Clean water, food, etc. Soon in the afternoon there was a boat carrying a large load of supplies to help the people. We were able to be part of it and help coordinate and hand out the donations. Wards from around Panamá rallied to donate food, clothes, and other necessities. The people now have more than they know what to do with

Rebuild

The chiefs came to the decision that they want to relocate the entire village to a safer place. The church suggested this before, but they said no. Now they realize that it's a good idea. For the time being, we're taking apart houses and rebuilding them so they have somewhere to sleep. It's been a wild week.

It's been a humbling but great experience. To see God's hand and see how much this church helps people both spiritually and temporally. Mosiah 2:41.

Love y'all

Elder Nali