June 20, 2011- A Super SOlid Week!!!

Hey Everybody!!

This last week was such a legit week out here in Brasil!! We had so many spiritual experiences and just other cool experiences but I don´t have time to write them all so here are just a couple. We had a baptism yesterday of this lady whose parents were trying for about 7 years to get her baptized and she never would. I had taught her before with my previous companion but she didn´t show any desire but my new companion and I decided to stop by a couple of weeks back, she let us in, we taught her, she came to church and the next day told us that she wanted to be baptized!! super cool, so we had her baptism yesterday after church and the Spirit was so strong at the baptism, almost everyone there was crying their eyes out, including her husband who is finally interested in learning about the gospel now too!! So that was way cool and we went to a firside last night where President and Sister Querioz gave their last fireside to the members here before we receive our new mission president. The Spirit was incredibly strong the entire night and they had us, the missionaries, sing ´Armies of Helaman` and everybody there was in tears. Such an amazing thing to witness. Also this last week when we were proselyting in the jungle part of the island and we saw monkies!! they were just jumping around in the trees and 2 of them were actually really friendly to us and we got to play and take pictures with them for about 10 minutes and then we had to go, but we were so stoked to see monkies!!! Also this last week we went to stop by the house of some of the people who attend our English class. They are a bunch of teenagers and we weren´t sure why they all had the same address till we got to there place, a foster home. It was an unforgettable feeling to walk into their place and see all of these kids who have had such rough lives and so badly just wanted to be loved. I was on the verge of tears the entire time as they joyfully showed us all the rooms in the foster home and what they like to do. After the tour, the social worker there came up and thanked us for the English class that we give every week and he told us how much all of the kids loved to go. He then asked me a lot of questions about the church and I got to teach him about the restoration and give him a Book of Mormon while my companion taught somebody else, it was amazing! I showed them a picture of our family too and told them how we are a foster/adopt family and they just thought that was the coolest thing ever (probably because it is)!!! Going there made me so grateful for the life I´ve had and for all the love I´ve received throughout my life. We are here on the earth because God loves us and wants us to feel His love forever. If we can always try to brighten somebody else´ life just a little bit everyday, I know we can make a difference in the life of that person. I love you all and hope you give the kids some loves for me!!!!!

Love,

Elder Michael J. Neilson


June 27, 2011

Hey everyone!

So this last week went really well as always and there were some pretty big changes.  We had our last meeting as a mission with President Querioz and his wife and it went really well, it was like 6 hours long but it was good.  President Querioz is going to be missed a lot out here, he is like the most popular person out here in southern Brasil and he is a stud.  I had my first mission President in AZ for 4 months and the President Querioz here for only 3 months so it will be weird to only have one more President for the rest of my mission.  Also my companion got transferred, I was super bummed at first because we worked super well together but when I found out who my new companion would be I was super excited.  His name is Elder Armistead and he is from Denver and he goes to BYU-Hawaii too!!  We talk about Hawaii soooo much during the day and he will go home in time for the start of the next Winter semester.  He is a super cool guy tho, we work hard together, and mesh super super well so I’m pretty happy right now.  The weather just keeps getting colder too, it’s already snowing down here in our mission, luckily not on the island but it’s still freezing.  We gave talks yesterday in Church too an those went super well, the members in our ward are really starting to embrace us.  We’ve got some pretty solid people out here who we are teaching so hopefully we will see some more baptisms soon!! I love you all and give the kids lots of loves for me!!!

Love,

Elder Michael J. Neilson

June 13, 2011- English Speakin Floripans

Hey Everybody!!
Everything here in Floripa is goin great!! The weather keeps getting colder, but it´s all good. We worked so hard this last week and fasted and are seeing many blessings come from this. My new companion is the best, we get along super well and work really hard. This is President Queiroz´s last week here in Floripa and then he goes back home to Utah so everyone is pretty sad about that but I´m excited for the new President to come. The Portuguese is doing well, it can still be tough at times because I need to expand my vocabulary but that will just come with time. English classes are going crazy well right now, we´ve had more people come this last month than they´ve ever had people attend here. We got to pass out 10 Book of Mormons and got many referrals from teaching English class too so that´s good. Hopefully everything is going well back home and give the little ones some loves!!!! Love, Elder Michael J. Neilson

June 6, 2011- Floripa´s kickin!

Hey Everyone!!
So I got a new companion this week, Elder Crestani, he´s from Utah and he is a solid missionary. This last week has been sooo great, like the Spirit has been incredibly strong and we are being blessed with so many people to teach and baptize. We had President Queiroz come to our appointment last night too, it was pretty cool to have him with us and see how he is able to work with people and help them understand the need for the Gospel. He goes home in a couple of weeks which is kind of sad but it´s all good because I hear that our next President is super rad. Serving on the island is amazing, our ward is incredible but things here are sooo expensive, my new companion is always telling me how ridiculously priced things are out here. Our District went from having almost no Americans missionaries to now we only have one brazilian on the island, crazy crazy. Things are really really well tho, and it´s fun waking up and having our back door frozen from the cold. Ya, it just gets colder and colder every day, so much for warm Brasil! haha love you all and give the kids some loves for me!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson

May 23, 2011- Small Apartments Make Great Ponds

Hey Everyone!!
This week definitely had it´s adventures to say the least haha but ya, we came home the other night after working all day to find our apartment completely flooded. We don´t know what happened but a lot of our stuff got ruined because of it, one of my suitcases is still wet and everything inside but it´s all good, we are still alive. We have been in contact with the mission office this whole week and it looks like we might be able to move into a new place which would be good since ours smells pretty funky now haha We transfer meeting this last week and a family came to pick up their son. They are from AZ and live in the bordering city of where I served. They said they were loving it in Brazil and didn´t feel at all in danger in Floripa. The work has been going well too, we´ve been having baptisms and have a few more this Saturday. The ward treat us really well here, and the people are a lot of fun. Everybody is anxious to meet our new mission President and are making guesses as to what changes he will bring. I´m excited to meet him and am sure he will be great. Love you all a ton and give the little ones loves for me!!!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson

May 30, 2011- Crazy Crazy Crazy Week

Hey everyone!
This week was definitely one that I will always remeber, lots of things happened and I will just share a few. I finally received the package with my meds that you sent me Mom so thank you so much! We had a few more baptisms this week and have quite a few more coming up in the next few weeks. We have a lot of people who tell us they want to be baptized but they are either not married legally or just have other issues that are gonna take some time to resolve. The members of our ward here are amazing, just super cool people. We have quite a few really really nice neighborhoods in our area and we had lunch the other day in one of them. The people we ate with are loaded and their house was huge, super nice, with cooks, maids, etc and afterward the dad said he would drive us back to the Church and he ended up taking an hour detour where he just drove us around the island. It was pretty cool, the island is ridiculously beautiful. Then on Saturday we got a call from President saying that the mission was having a ´mini transfer´ and my companion Elder Kneipp would be transfered. Elder Kneipp was not happy at all, but that´s the way things go out on the mission, you never know when you´ll go. My new companion is an American and I´m pretty excited to work with him and see what kind of success we will be blessed with here in Floripa. Hope all is well back home and make sure to give the babies some loves for me!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson