April 23, 2012- Arrived In Tijucas!!

Hey everybody!!

So this week I arrived in my new area, Tijucas, and since we are opening the area we both were a bit lost for the majority of the time but the members are helping us out a lot! Tijucas is a very relaxed town that is growing a ton, but has a very South American feel to it, I love it! We have 7 other cities in our area so we will have to do some traveling, including this week when we have to go back to Floripa for doctor appointments, etc. The weather is really starting to cool down, too, yesterday it was freezing so we worked in our suits the entire day. We are super excited to be here tho and to see how this area will grow here in the coming weeks!! I love you all and hope you have a great week and that Tahnee has a great birthday!!! Give the little ones some loves for me!!!!

Love,

Elder Michael J. Neilson

April 16, 2012- Goin to the Beach

Hey Everyone!!

  So I got transfered this last Wednesday and spent the week (and will spend the majority of this next week) in the mission office. I got to go back to my first area in Rio Tavares on Saturday to see a baptismal service and then I went to church there on Sunday so it was a lot of fun to see everybody again!! That place is such a beautiful area and I know I will have even more opportunities to go back there before the end of my mission. I will be going to my  new area, most likely on Friday, which is called Tijucas. It´s an area that has 7 cities within it´s boundaries and is known for having, arguably, the prettiest beach out here in Florianópolis....I got another rough area haha. What´s cool is that I´ve basically spent my entire mission serving in Floripa beach cities so it will be easy and convenient to visit everybody when Mom and Dad come! My new companion is Elder Sena, he´s from Brasilia and he´s a super good missionary so hopefully we are blessed with great success!! I love you all and hope you give the kids lots of loves for me!!!

Love,

Elder Michael J. Neilson

April 9, 2012- Feliz Páscoa!!

Hey Everybody!!

This week of Páscoa (Easter) went super well! We got to invite lots of people to come and worship with us this Sunday and there were some who came, even for the very first time! During English class this week we made French Toast and the people went crazy for it! I had to hide my bottle of maple syrup because everybody wanted to take it home with them haha and we were able to have a super grewat lesson on the gospel and the Book of Mormon with some of the students! Yesterday we received sooo much chocolate, I couldn´t believe it! This week we will probably get a ton more. We had a great class in Church tho about the Ressurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and it was incredible. We truly do receive so much peace, comfort, and hope in knowing that death has been conquered and everyone of us will live forever. Now in this life is time to act and do what the Lord commands so that we may live in happiness with our families forever. I love you all so much and hope you have a great week!! Give the little ones some loves for me!!!

Love,

Elder Michael J. Neilson

March 26, 2012- Conference Prep

Hey Everyone!!

This week went super well!! Our friend João Pedro got baptized on Saturday and his mom who has been less-active in the church came to the baptismal service and to church on Sunday so we are hoping to be able to help her get back on track to receiving the blessings that come from activity in the gospel!! We had another lady, Ana and her son, Miguel, come to church yesterday, too and they loved it!! They want to get baptized but Ana has to work a lot on Sunday so a member in the ward is going to help her find a new job this week and perhaps she will get baptized in the coming weeks. Everybody here is getting really excited for General Conference! It seems like there has been given a lot of emphasis on preparing ourselves spiritually for this great conference. Everything is still going great and we are enjoying each day that we get to serve with all of our might!! I love you all and hope you give the little ones some loves for me!!!

Love,

Elder Michael J. Neilson

April 2, 2012- Conference is the Best!

Hey everyone!!

Conference was SO incredible this weekend!! One of our friends investigating the church, Abilio, attended all of the sessions and was awe-struck at the end and told me that ‘everybody in the world needs to watch at least one of these conferences to understand what the Church is about’.  I loved all the talks and especially Elder Hallstrom’s when he talked about the importance of being active in the gospel AND in the church.  It was a great week and weekend tho and we are all pretty charged up to go out and work even harder now!!  We are going to spend a lot of time this week looking for new people to teach and bring this beautiful message to and hopefully we can help them enter the waters of baptism like so many of the speakers at conference talked about!!  I love you all and wish you a Happy Easter and that we may all remember just exactly what the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ, means for each and every one of us.  Give the little ones some loves for me!!!!!

Love,

Elder Michael J. Neilson

March 19, 2012- The Winter Wind Blows

Hey Everyone!!

This week went really well out here and the weather is already starting to cool down for the winter season! I always thought that a Brasilian Summer would be really brutal but it was definitely the coolest Summer I´ve ever experienced. This week we had a handful of people accept the invite to be baptized and one of them, João Pedro, will be baptized this Satruday so we are really excited for him! Our English class out here is going super well, too, it´s consistently bringing 20 people every class and a few people are gaining interest in the church. Everything else is going great and everyone here is just getting ready for Easter which means we are going to get lots of chocolate in the coming days!! I love you all and hope you ive the little ones some loves for me!!!

Love,

Elder Michael J. Neilson

March 12, 2012- Transfers

Hey everyone!!

  This week flew by, but it was another super busy and great week! I went to go and get my new companion from the mission office on Wednesday. His name is Elder Correia and he is from Rio de Janeiro (he says he doesn´t remember and Elder Neilson (Skylar) passing thru his ward tho) and he´s a great missionary full of desire to work hard and be obedient so I´m really excited to be with him! My last companion, Elder Banner, went to get his new companion on Wednesday, too, but his companion sisn´t show up and will get here this week so Pres Fernandes had him spend this last week was us here in our area. It was actually a lot of fun having 3 missionaries at all of our appointments, and whatnot but he is leaving tomorrow so we will be back to 2. In our house we have 2 other Elders who live with us and one of them is from Argentina so it´s fun to practice Spanish with him and he likes to practice his English with me. Also we have a mission conference with Elder Godoy of the 70 this week so it should be a great expereince!! I love you all and hope and pray you are all happy and safe!!! Give the little ones some loves for me!!!

Love,

Elder Michael J. Neilson

March 5, 2012- Storm Watch

Hey Everyone!!

  This was the last week of our transfer and it went really well!! We had quite an eventful week that kept us really busy which is always a blessing. I got to go on a division in one of the more ghetto areas of our mission and it was a great experience to see how humble of circumstances that some people in this world have. It was a great day and it really made me appreciate the blessings which I have in my life. Also on Wednesday night we went out to make some visits with a member. We parked his car and went to make the visits and as we were making our way back to the car, all of a sudden out of nowhere the sky fell on us! It literally just started to pour down rain without even a sprinkle of warning, I´ve never seen anything like this in my life! We had to take shelter under a bus stop but we were still getting pounded by the rain because the winds were exceeding 100 KPH. After about 10 minutes we made a dash to the members car and got completely soaked from head to toe. It was a super crazy storm to where all the cars on the road were going about 5mph due to the fact that we couldn´t see out of the windsheild! We still went and made another visit before going home and as we were going home we saw all the destruction that had taken place and nobody in the city had power. We drove to our apartment tho and our apartment and a few more houses on our street were the only places with power in the entire city!! We got inside our apartments and saw how our things got a little bit wet because we left the windows open, but it was a cool experience! We found out last night that my companion, Elder Banner, is getting transfered this week and I still don´t know who my new companion is but I´ll find out soon!! I love you all and hope to hear from you soon!! Give the little ones some loves for me!!!

Love,

Elder Michael J. Neilson