Palmer Mission November 28-December 4

Another uneventful week in the books. Whats up yall? We worked super hard this week and tried our best to do the work of the lord by visiting members and references of less active members and teaching our converts but for right now Heavenly Father needs us to keep working to find those people who are interested in knowing the truth! We for sure trying our best! And yeah so the weather is getting a little toasty up here. I think the highest its literally gotten is 98° but it felt like 120° so ya saben that Im sweating myself into shape

Almost Got Pounded + Saw something I never wanted to see = Nice Pastor Man

So yeah these were the most interesting 20 minutes of my life. And they happened within 10 minutes of leaving the pension...so within 1 minute of leaving the pension we walk between these two dudes that were carrying a lot of alcohol and one looks at me and speaks a langauge that even Elder Meza didnt know but I kept walking cuz I didnt know what he said and then he said, "Why dont you respond white boy huh?" And I just kept walking cuz I dont talk to haters but then they started trash talking gringos so (cuz Im prideful) I turned around and said "Im from France" and then one of the dudes explodes and starts coming after me and Im not sure what the other one said but it made him go back and they just started shouting insults at me...so that was weird and then one of the first doors we knocked a grandma answers the door and um yeah so she had very little clothing so my eyes were scarred and then the very next door was the nicest pastor ever that didnt even attempt to fight us....all within 20 minutes. The mission for sure is an experience.

TRASLADOS

Alright transfers happened and as I already knew, Im staying here in Posadas with Elder Meza which is super hype cuz he is awesome. Im learning a ton with him and yeah. Rip to Hna Wyatt who went home last week. But Im super excited for the zone! We have some really cool missionaries including a new area in Itaembe Guazú! We had basically another city in our area last transfer and it made the work hard cuz we had such a big area but now Elder Felix and Landa opened it up and they are awesome! Our last time we went to Itaembe Guazú we grinded to set it up for them some more and found 2 new people by being super annoying and persistent but we had a lesson with them! Then we took a bus back but there was an accident on the highway and sooo we had to get off the bus and wait for another bus to come and take us home so we didnt get home until 10:45, we were so tired but hey ya gotta do what ya gotta do

EL BARRIO

So certain things have happened and our relationship with the ward wasnt the best but now its grown a ton! We have visited so many less actives they've asked us to visit and just showed love and gratefulness for their efforts! Love for sure is the way to grow a relationship and fix things!

King of the Hill

So yesterday we were walking and saw an inactive partial member family shoveling dirt so we went and helped for about 45 minutes and we got super dirty but it was sure worth it and then they gave us giant hot dogs with fries on them (super panchos) and we were able to show them our love for them no matter what and that just cuz we are in nice clothes doesnt mean we cant help! But yeah sorry mom, my pants and shirt are now a little red with the red dirt from Posadas ajaja but we also took a pic on top of all the dirt we shoveled so epic.

Anyway! That was basically the week! Not too exciting (but im always excited for the best work on earth) and not too successful but we given it our all and we are excited to keep working! The savior died for us because of his love for us...Heavenly Father is literally our Heavenly Father so know that!

Love yall so much! Thanks for everything yall do for me....shout out to the activity day girls from my ward who wrote me a letter yall are the best! We also ate Peruvian food called Lomo Saltado and yeah its my new favorite food

Elder Nelson

 

Lincoln Mission November 28-December 4

 I have received my transfer news and I'm going to a place called Arraiján! I'm on the outskirts and will be climbing a lot of hills, speaking with a lot of kuna people, and taking a lot of bucket showers! My new comp's name is Elder Brinkeroff who I've heard is a really cool guy. I'm super excited. It's sad to say goodbye to Elder Johnson cause he was an awesome companion, but we'll see each other around. 

Nov 28th

This date is the independence day from columbia or spain. I can't remember at the moment. It's also the day that the government repealed the law that caused everyone to go crazy, meaning no more closed roads, riots, or protests! We were do excited. Everyone was driving around and flying flags. We were also invited to tear down a wall for a member, which was super fun. We just took a sledgehammer to it and took it out. That same day there was a massive march on our street. It was flooded with people and just absolutely crazy. So hard to do the work or even just move around. Some guy was launching massive firecrackers out of his hand and there were 3 massive speakers mounted on cars. It went until 1 am. I could barely sleep. Gotta love it.

We had a great family home evening with a large group of members and it was so fun. We stacked a bunch of cups, with the base being 12, to represent the organization and doctrine of the church. We had one of the kids knock it down to show the great apostacy (when God's church was lost,) and then built it back up again to represent the restoration of the church by Christ through the prophet Joseph Smith. The spirit was really strong, and what made it even more... fun, was the fact that both grandpa's were dead drunk. It was really sad to see because they expressed their desire to come back to church and be sober, but would never admit it while off alcohol. One of them promptly laid on the floor and fell asleep and the other was nodding off the entire time. We're going to attempt to help them.

I had a super fun exchange with Elder Japa, who's from the Dominican Republic but lived in spain for 10 years. He has really good spanish (I would hope,) and was absolutely hilarious. He speaks decent english as well, so he would randomly seitch to english and say something so random. I love that guy. Their house over there looks like a castle, because the person who owns it is very rich and a member. She's really nice and offered the misisonaries to rent the house for a really great price. She has walla thst literally look like some castle ramparts and even has an iron gate. We also found the lamanite church, "templo lemuel," and you need to read the Book of Mormon to understand it. 

We also found an amazing family that is so ready to hear the gospel. They had so many questions and loved the message that we dhared with them. We felt the spirit so strongly and left on a spiritual high. As we were walking down the street, a man who was absolutely wasted was walking towards us. We're used to seeing a lot of drunk people, but this was a little different. About 10 ft away, he flashed us. Too much. Something that should never happen. We ran and he tried to grab us, but we shook him off and booked it down the road. It was ok though because the family we met came to church the next day, and absolutely loved it. To be honest, ut was the best testimony meeting I've been in and made these 3 transfers here worth it. It went on for an hour and a half. Our friend took videos of us sharing our testimonies (I don't know the rule on that,) and the spirit was overflowing. We had kids, teenagers, recent converts, returned missionaries, less social members, and more all share their testimonies. Our president called it a miracle and I agree with him. God's timing is perfect. It made it such a wonderful day.

We had our district counsel, which was great, and then went to a restaurant to celebrate a few elders who hit a year. An elder named Elder Oviatt and I ate a burger called "Everest." They gave you speciel plastic gloces to improve this immersive experience. 4 patties, a ton of cheese, a ton of bacon, topped with more cheese, and a little cut up pepperoni to go with it. I barely finished it, and ended up lying on the side of the road unable to move without fear of dying. Worth it. I did intercambios with Elder Olson one day and then with Elder Oviatt the other. And we all spent the night at there house, so we could go to zona libre. It was fun until I realized I had to sleep on a yoga mat with my towel for a pillow... I dare say it wasn't the best sleep of my life. I did end the last hour in a kuna hammick, but it was a little banana. Mission experiences. We opened up our transfer news together which is always an interesting and anxious experience. I'm very happy with where I'm going and hope I can do what the Lord needs me to there. An elder who served there gave me a kuna dictionary, so now I can learn to make jokes with them  It's hilarious seeing a gringo trying to speak dulegaya.

Well, that's pretty much it. We're having a problem with our google photos right now so there won't be many (if I can even get to work.) Hope y'all are doing great and have a fantastic week

Elder Nelson

Palmer Mission November 21-27 2023

 Whats up yall? Well this week was probably the chillest week in a while. There isnt really anything that happened this week cuz I think last week took up all my crazy stories but we had a ton of miracles cuz we were super obedient and grinded so Heavenly Father blessed up.

Copa Mundial Pt 2

So Elder Goss and I went on exchanges so after Pday we left right away to go and work but we had an epic lesson with member and were heading home when we passed by a soccer field with a bunch of young adults playing soccer but anyway we watched as we walked and this kid shoots the ball and the goalie saves it and drop kicks it to half field and the ball bounces once and this man jumps in the air and hits a scorpion kick from midfield and that ball flew right over the goalie's head and went into the goal...it was probably the craziest thing Ive ever seen and this one drunk dude says "That was for you Elders" so yeah that was super epic to watch. Then Elder Goss and I grinded the next day. He's new but has 0 fear to speak spanish and he's super diligent and obedient so it was pretty cool to work with him for a day.

Miracles Noma

God provided this week. So we've been working super hard and being as obedient as posible right and having hope that Heavenly Father would help us out. And this week we were able to put 3 friends on date and miracously got the grandma's approval for the 2 girls to get baptized even though she rejects the church so pray for Daiana, Braian and Aimara to be able to get to church to get baptized! Then one night we were riding home on colectivo (bus) and this drunk dude with his girlfriend turns around and says the sister missionaries passed by his house a while ago and wanted us to stop by but they didnt have a phone to communicate. So we went by 3 times and they werent there and so we decided to make one more attempt and on Sunday we were able to find them just as they were leaving! We had a great lesson and promised them a better life as they follow the teachings we teach which are Jesus Christ's and gave em a Book of Mormon! Ok and then sunday morning we pull up to church and the only one of our friends to show up was Pedro! A friend we found this week that we didnt even expect to show up. He has so much faith and hope he keeps progressing!

Anyway that was basically the week! Elder Meza and I are for sure trying our best and trusting in our heavenly father to help us find his sons and daughters that need him! God lives and loves us...Commandments are to bless us and help us do more of his work! Jesus died for you! Love yall!

Elder Nelson