Wednesday, March 30, 2011
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!I'M GOING TO BRAZIL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
MY VISA HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i FLY TO BRAZIL MONDAY MORNING AT 11AM, STOP IN DALLAS FOR A COUPLE HOUR LAYOVER, THEN FLY TO SAO PAULO WHERE I HAVE A SMALL LAYOVER AND THEN GO STRAIGHT TO FLORIANOPOLIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LOVE YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
March 23, 2011-It's HOT here!!!
Helloo Everyone!!!
This last week was so rad!!! We had our baptism on Sunday night of this lady named Elia and she is soooo solid!! I got to confirm her a member and it was such a neat experience since it was my first time ever confirming somebody and I did it in Spanish!!! This area that we are in has been sooo ridiculously blessed, we are so lucky to see the Lord perform miracles each and every day out here!! We already have a lot of friends who we talk with every week and it seems like everyday we are fortunate to pick up somebody new!! It is starting to heat up here tho, I'm pretty scared to see what a Summer here would be like!! We are also getting ready for this massive Easter Pageant that they do every year out here (I hear it is ridiculously good) and it is April 15th&16th for all the Spanish speakers so we are just inviting everyone to come out and see it!! Ya, that's about it. Give the little one loves for me!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
This last week was so rad!!! We had our baptism on Sunday night of this lady named Elia and she is soooo solid!! I got to confirm her a member and it was such a neat experience since it was my first time ever confirming somebody and I did it in Spanish!!! This area that we are in has been sooo ridiculously blessed, we are so lucky to see the Lord perform miracles each and every day out here!! We already have a lot of friends who we talk with every week and it seems like everyday we are fortunate to pick up somebody new!! It is starting to heat up here tho, I'm pretty scared to see what a Summer here would be like!! We are also getting ready for this massive Easter Pageant that they do every year out here (I hear it is ridiculously good) and it is April 15th&16th for all the Spanish speakers so we are just inviting everyone to come out and see it!! Ya, that's about it. Give the little one loves for me!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
March 16, 2011-The Work Keeps Coming!!
Hola everyone!
This last week was AMAZING! We got to teach a ton and had some exciting baptism news!!! On Saturday I got to baptize this young kid named Angel and it was a super cool experience!! I'm really really tight with his family and his dad grew up in LA so we get to talk about CA a lot. They are the Juarez family and are such generous people, they would feed us dinner every night if we would let them! haha Then the next day at church I was sitting next to one of our investigators named Elia who just has a solid testimony and is such a generous person as well. We had extended baptism dates to her before but she said that she wanted to come to church some more so she could get to know some more members in the ward. Well after Sacrament meeting I started talking to her and she told me she doesn't want to wait any longer to be baptized and wants to be baptized this week!!! So rad!! So we had her interviewed and she is going to get baptized this next Sunday!! My companion is going to baptize her and I am going to confirm her, it should be a beautiful event! The work here in Chandler is every missionary's dream! With the disaster in Japan and other world events going on we have really received a lot of questions about what all of this means. It is a great opportunity to share the gospel with these people and help them understand that with the gospel we have no need to fear. I love you all soo much and hope all is well back home!!! Give the little ones loves for me!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
Monday, March 14, 2011
March 9, 2011- Visas are Coming!!!!!!
Hey everyone!
So today my Brazil visa-waiting companion got transferred and I got another Brazil visa-waiting companion (kind of an odd switch). But at transfers I saw the Elder I came out to AZ with and he got his visa yesterday and flies to Brazil tomorrow!!! He is pretty stoked and I am way happy for him!! The work in Chandler has been incredible as always tho!! We had a baptism last Saturday, one this next Saturday, one the week after and possibly 2 the week after that!! We are pretty excited to see so many people progressing towards baptism lately!! As missionaries that is what we are here to do, baptize. So when we actually get baptisms it feels really really good!! I'm loving it out here tho, we make sure to keep having fun out here!! Not too much more that I want to say, everything is great!! Give the little ones lots of loves for me!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
So today my Brazil visa-waiting companion got transferred and I got another Brazil visa-waiting companion (kind of an odd switch). But at transfers I saw the Elder I came out to AZ with and he got his visa yesterday and flies to Brazil tomorrow!!! He is pretty stoked and I am way happy for him!! The work in Chandler has been incredible as always tho!! We had a baptism last Saturday, one this next Saturday, one the week after and possibly 2 the week after that!! We are pretty excited to see so many people progressing towards baptism lately!! As missionaries that is what we are here to do, baptize. So when we actually get baptisms it feels really really good!! I'm loving it out here tho, we make sure to keep having fun out here!! Not too much more that I want to say, everything is great!! Give the little ones lots of loves for me!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
Wednesday, March 2, 2011
More Brazilian Visa Waiters Have Arrived!!
Hola everyone!
So last Friday we got a call that my companion and I would be receiving a Brazilian visa waiter! I was pretty excited to be able to have someone I could speak Portuguese with. So we picked him up on Monday, Elder Oliver from West Virginia. Cool guy and he was told the same thing that I was told when I left the MTC, that his visa should arrive in less than a month so he is pretty convinced he will be gone like next week. Perhaps he will, especially because he knows absolutely no spanish so he can't really talk to any of our investigators or people on the street. He is a good worker tho and will feel more comfortable eventually I am sure! This last week my companion and I went back to the guy (Omar) who told me that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and all of that. It was the first time my companion had met him and he was convinced that he was actually a member and just playing with us. He recited a bunch of scriptures from the Book of Mormon and D&C and bore testimony of many things again, but again he told us he won't join the Church just yet because he has read a few books on Brigham Young and that is his idol and since Brigham didn't join the Church until after 2 years of investigating, he won't join the Church just yet...it doesn't make sense to me. Especially because he told us exactly how he got his answer to know that the Book of Mormon is true, but he invited us back to talk with him some more so we just hope and pray that the Spirit can motivate him to take action and be baptized. Also this last week we really were able to gain so much more love and appreciation for the gospel. Some of our investigators have told us about their past and the problems they now deal with and how they try so hard to be good and stay on track but past addictions and past relationships prevent them from doing so. We have one man who was homeless the majority of his life and was a drug addict on some pretty heavy stuff. The last few years he got married, got a job, had a kid, has started coming to Church and reading almost everyday but still can't leave his past. He completely broke down the other night and told us how badly he wished he never did drugs, drank, or slept around because he is doing his best to stay good but Satan still has a hold of him. He is the nicest guy, and you would never guess that he would have the crazy past that he has, but it just goes to show how lucky we are to have the gospel to help us avoid these devastating things of the world. I love the gospel so much and hope that we can always remember to be grateful for the guidance we receive from the Lord thru His prophet. I love you all so much and am stoked to hear that you finally have a court date for the babies!!! Send them my love!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
So last Friday we got a call that my companion and I would be receiving a Brazilian visa waiter! I was pretty excited to be able to have someone I could speak Portuguese with. So we picked him up on Monday, Elder Oliver from West Virginia. Cool guy and he was told the same thing that I was told when I left the MTC, that his visa should arrive in less than a month so he is pretty convinced he will be gone like next week. Perhaps he will, especially because he knows absolutely no spanish so he can't really talk to any of our investigators or people on the street. He is a good worker tho and will feel more comfortable eventually I am sure! This last week my companion and I went back to the guy (Omar) who told me that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and all of that. It was the first time my companion had met him and he was convinced that he was actually a member and just playing with us. He recited a bunch of scriptures from the Book of Mormon and D&C and bore testimony of many things again, but again he told us he won't join the Church just yet because he has read a few books on Brigham Young and that is his idol and since Brigham didn't join the Church until after 2 years of investigating, he won't join the Church just yet...it doesn't make sense to me. Especially because he told us exactly how he got his answer to know that the Book of Mormon is true, but he invited us back to talk with him some more so we just hope and pray that the Spirit can motivate him to take action and be baptized. Also this last week we really were able to gain so much more love and appreciation for the gospel. Some of our investigators have told us about their past and the problems they now deal with and how they try so hard to be good and stay on track but past addictions and past relationships prevent them from doing so. We have one man who was homeless the majority of his life and was a drug addict on some pretty heavy stuff. The last few years he got married, got a job, had a kid, has started coming to Church and reading almost everyday but still can't leave his past. He completely broke down the other night and told us how badly he wished he never did drugs, drank, or slept around because he is doing his best to stay good but Satan still has a hold of him. He is the nicest guy, and you would never guess that he would have the crazy past that he has, but it just goes to show how lucky we are to have the gospel to help us avoid these devastating things of the world. I love the gospel so much and hope that we can always remember to be grateful for the guidance we receive from the Lord thru His prophet. I love you all so much and am stoked to hear that you finally have a court date for the babies!!! Send them my love!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
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