Lincoln Mission October 25-28 2024

Well, it's already p day. It's only been a few days because of the zone conference schedule, so not too much to share. Sorry.

 

Zone pday

On Thursday we all got together in Cartí and were able to catch up, play some good 'ol American football, and eat some delicious food. All the elders in the zone are some of the best guys you'll ever meet. It's so fun to be able to hang out with them and talk about our experiences.

 

Zone conference

On Friday president and the aps arrived and brought ice cream! It was the best tasting thing on earth. It was a miracle they got it out here without it melting too much. We heard some great messages, I had a good interview with president, and we all ate too much food. After eating spam and canned chicken every day, the sandwiches they brought us tasted like a meal from a 5-star restaurant. Hermana Forsberg also made us brownies and cookies which tasted like they were sent directly from heaven. After the conference, president left, and we went around the island doing visits. Everyone loves it because there were 13 elders going around singing and sharing messages on a small island.

 

Boat problems

The next day a boat was supposed to come get us at 8:30 am and take us to playon chico. The boat was 4 hours late. It was a boring 4 hours. On the way there the waves got pretty big, which makes it more fun bouncing around. We then had to stay the night in playon chico to wait for another boat. It was supposed to come at 6:30 am so we could get to church. It didn't come. So, we had to find some random guy who could take us to Ukupa. A guy named junior took us in a small, beaten-up boat. The waves are less fun in that boat, and we got soaked on the way there. We ended up missing church... unfortunate. We also couldn't go to the other villages to do Sunday school. Not many things went our way. That's just how life goes.

 

That's basically it. Lots of travels, hanging out with the best elders on earth, and dealing with boat troubles. It's a simple life. Nothing better.

 

Elder Nali (Lincoln)

Hunter Mission October 22-28 2024

 Another fantastic week has come and gone and we are still cooking over here in Quillota 

We started this week out with a District Council where we decided to make this week a competition. So every day one of the sectors make a challenge and score points and whoever has the least amount of points has to make breakfast tomorrow. As of right now we are last

and we have one more day to score points, so pray for us 

This week over all wasn't too eventful, but we were able to get some lessons in which was good. We have a lot of reciente converts in the ward, so a lot of the time was trying to help them out and share more about the gospel. Thats one of our main objectives while we're here

I also might have a heart attack at the end of the next two years. There's this thing here called completos and it's literally a slice of heaven. Just imagine a hot dog but better. Then make it 3 times bigger and you got yourself a completo. Anyway this last week we had 3 days where the members couldn't have us over, so they gave us a few bucks each and the only place here to eat is a completo shop called Donde el Mono. So we ate about 2 pounds of completos 3 days this week and I definitely might developed a heart condition but that can't stop me, they're too good. 

We also had exchanges this past week and it was definitely a interesting experience. Usually we'll schedule a bunch of stuff throughout the day and about half off it will fall through, but we'll at least get a few contacts in enough to fill up our day. But this day there wasn't a soul in sight. It seemed like a ghost town and in about 30 mins we had gone to all 20 of our friends housea, all 10 of our active member in our area and 10 people that used to be in teaching and not a single person opened there door. So with about 6 hours left to work, we had to get creative with what we were going to do. So after a little bit of thinking we found the only living people in sight, 2 dudes playing ping pong. So we asked them if we could share a quick message with them about Jesus and they turned us down. Then we thought of a even better idea which was to challenge them to a ping pong game to 20 points. If the gringos won, they had to listen to our message, if they won we would scaddadle on out of there. Anyway long story short we smoked them 20-12 and had a great lesson about 30 mins long (would've been 5 if they just let as share in the first place) they invited us to come back anytime and challenge them again. So we might be playing some ping pong this week and spreading the gospel.

Anyway, those were the main things that happened this week a quick spiritual thought from something that I've learned this week, as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we believe that we have the fullness of the gospel and that is true, but that doesn't mean life will be easy. We have a few inactive members here that expect life to be perfectly easy because they kept their covenants and the commandments and they then decide to tell God exactly how to bless them. The thing with this is God knows exactly how to bless us in the best way for our progression, which does not necessarily mean that we will have a comfortable life. Being comfortable means that this progression has stopped and that is something God will never want. So just keep looking for the ways that each one of your unique trials has blessed your lives then continue pressing forward with faith in Christ. 

Love you all! Let me know if you need anything. Hope life's been good!

Elder Nelson 

McKay Meals By Grace Leadership Board Food Drive

McKay was chosen for the Meals by Grace Leadership board for 2024-25. Mostly they head up food drives for Meals By Grace. Today McKay was on the "unload team." Basically he unloaded all of the donations that people brought. People are so generous! They also had 34 coats. 

I love that McKay is having lots of service experiences. 

 

McKay Fall Lacrosse 2024

McKay decided to play with his Rec team for fall lacrosse this year. He's really enjoyed being around these kids and always comes home having had a fun time at practice. 

He has done really well and gotten so good at ball handling. He practices a lot at home. 

The other thing I love about watching McKay play is that he is a team player. He's one of the best passers. 

One of the games he got to do the Face Off. He did a great job!

McKay has loved playing lacrosse!
 

Lincoln Mission October 15-24 2024

Another great week and a half here in Ukupa. We're going to have zone conference on friday, so our p day got moved to thursday. A lot has been going on and I can't remember it all. 

Life is good

We're still getting some great things done in our little village. We had the baptism of Gunipipiler which went well. One of our recent converts was also able to do the baptism, so we felt really good about it. It's awesome to see how happy our friends are after their baptism. We have a lot of people we're teaching right now, and we're working to build and strengthen our relationship with the members. It's going great so far.

Malaria

I had been feeling sick on and off for a while, and on thursday it got bad. Then on friday it got really bad. Crazy shivers with a super high fever, muscle aches, headache, etc. So I got tested for malaria. It came back positive. So I spent the rest of the day in my hammock praying for death. It was probably the worst sickness I've gone through. But now I'm fine, so life is back to normal.

Service

We were also able to get in some good service with the members. We planted some platano trees, cut down some other massive trees, and some other stuff. These people have been working in the jungle for decades, so they know who's farm is who's, where to go, where not to go, where all the toucans are, etc. The jungle is their life, so when we go and help out, we're able to build a super strong relationship with them. 

That's pretty much it for this week. It's an amazing and humbling experience to work here. I love this place and these people so much. It's also pretty amazing to see how much God cares about this small village in the middle of nowhere. His hand is in everyone of their lives. 

Other stuff

- got a jaguar tooth

- got a deer skull (a lot smaller here)

- ate some more dule masi

- am trying to learn to weave fans/baskets

- went to congreso and heard an old chief guy sit in a hammock and sing for 2 hours. 

Elder Nelson