?!Como les han ido todos?!
This last week was SO incredibly amazing!!! The amount of people we are teaching and preparing for baptism just keeps increasing! First thing I learned this week, don't EVER eat this soup called 'menudo'. I had heard horror stories about it before and somebody finally cooked it for us this last week. It is a soup that is just full of these massive chunks of cow stomach/intestine and it is the chewiest meal EVER. haha I was struggling sooooooo hard to eat it, especially since they gave us massive portions. And to top it off we had every Mexicans favorite dessert, flan. also not the greatest, but they are a less-active family who we are really close with so we were still very grateful to be fed. Then the next day I went on exchanges with an English elder and went to do English work with him. We were sitting in one of his investigator's home and talking to her about what everything will be like when she gets baptized here in the next couple of weeks, but something about this lady just didn't seem right. I didn't know it, but her father-in-law who only speaks Spanish, was sitting in the back of the room listening to our entire conversation when he suddenly butts in and in Spanish so my companion and his daughter-in-law couldn't understand, starts telling me how she is not at all prepared or worthy for baptism. He tells me about how she needs to start taking more responsibility in life and get her act together and how she views baptism as something that is just going to solve everything. Quite frankly, he was ripping on her as she sat right there (but she was indian and didn't know a lick of Spanish). He then starts saying how she needs to understand more about the purpose of baptism as explained in 2 Nephi 31 and Mosiah 18. This guy isn't a member so when he said that I just busted into a huge smile, and asked him some questions about the Book of Mormon and asked him if he believed it is true. He answers that question by bearing his testimony that he knows the Book of Mormon is true and even said things like he knows that Moroni directed Joseph Smith to where the gold plates were...I was so ecstatic!! So I asked him and my real companion and I could return and talk with him some more and he said for sure!! It was such a cool experience that then turned into very awkward because his daughter-in-law and my companion asked me what he just said, and I told her that he doesn't feel she is ready for baptism and that the English missionaries would tell her why she isn't when they teach her next time haha it was really cool tho! The Gospel is sooo great and the change it can bring to our lives is amazing!! I hope all is well back home and give the little ones some loves for me!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
February 16, 2011- Another Alooooha!!!
Hola todos!!
Wow this last week has been INSANELY busy, like we have been teaching lessons left and right!!! The Lord has blessed this area soooooo much and I am so lucky to be here at this time to witness this. We have a baptism coming up on March 5th which is way sick! We are working on having at least 4 other people baptized on that date too so lets pray that it all works out!! This Sunday I am speaking in Sacrament Meeting on the Small and Simple Things that we do in our lives, I'm wayyy excited to talk about this. It is just me and a member of the Arizona Tempe Mission Presidency speaking so I hope we don't bore our ward too much haha I love it out here tho, I know I've said that like tons of times before but really, it amazing out here! Like yesterday we only had 8 hours of proselyting time and more than 6 of those hours were spent in peoples' homes teaching them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My companion, Elder Southern, and I are just in complete awe of how crazy on fire this area is right now, and we know it is completely because of the Lord. Thank you all who have kept the missionaries in your prayers, we need as much help from the Spirit as we can possibly get out here and with the Lord everything is possible. I love you all soooo much and wouldn't be surprised if one of my next emails is sent to you from the great country of Brazil!! Give the little ones tons of loves for me!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
Wow this last week has been INSANELY busy, like we have been teaching lessons left and right!!! The Lord has blessed this area soooooo much and I am so lucky to be here at this time to witness this. We have a baptism coming up on March 5th which is way sick! We are working on having at least 4 other people baptized on that date too so lets pray that it all works out!! This Sunday I am speaking in Sacrament Meeting on the Small and Simple Things that we do in our lives, I'm wayyy excited to talk about this. It is just me and a member of the Arizona Tempe Mission Presidency speaking so I hope we don't bore our ward too much haha I love it out here tho, I know I've said that like tons of times before but really, it amazing out here! Like yesterday we only had 8 hours of proselyting time and more than 6 of those hours were spent in peoples' homes teaching them the Gospel of Jesus Christ. My companion, Elder Southern, and I are just in complete awe of how crazy on fire this area is right now, and we know it is completely because of the Lord. Thank you all who have kept the missionaries in your prayers, we need as much help from the Spirit as we can possibly get out here and with the Lord everything is possible. I love you all soooo much and wouldn't be surprised if one of my next emails is sent to you from the great country of Brazil!! Give the little ones tons of loves for me!!!!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
Saturday, February 12, 2011
February 9, 2011-Busy Busy Busy Busy!!
Hey everyone!
This last week has perhaps been the greatest week of my mission!! The success the Lord has blessed us with has been so tremendous that I am still kind of in awe haha. President Howes set some goals for every companionship to achieve, or at least come close to, by the end of the transfer. Thanks to absolute miracles from the Lord, Elder Southern and I have already reached these goals by the 2nd week of the transfer! We have been teaching like CRAZY out here and we now have soooooo many people who are going to get baptized, it is absolutely amazing!! We have soooo much work too that we are contacting the members everyday to help us out and they LOVE to help us. The Spanish people love the missionaries more than I have ever seen a people love the missionaries, and a big reason for this is because the majority of them are converts themselves. This area is exploding and I am soooo lucky to be here to see it happen!! I hope all is going well back home, I love you all so much and make sure to give the little ones tons of love for me!!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
This last week has perhaps been the greatest week of my mission!! The success the Lord has blessed us with has been so tremendous that I am still kind of in awe haha. President Howes set some goals for every companionship to achieve, or at least come close to, by the end of the transfer. Thanks to absolute miracles from the Lord, Elder Southern and I have already reached these goals by the 2nd week of the transfer! We have been teaching like CRAZY out here and we now have soooooo many people who are going to get baptized, it is absolutely amazing!! We have soooo much work too that we are contacting the members everyday to help us out and they LOVE to help us. The Spanish people love the missionaries more than I have ever seen a people love the missionaries, and a big reason for this is because the majority of them are converts themselves. This area is exploding and I am soooo lucky to be here to see it happen!! I hope all is going well back home, I love you all so much and make sure to give the little ones tons of love for me!!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Feb 2, 2011
Hey everyone!!
We had such a strong week this last week! We taught a LOT of people and saw the gospel change them in incredible ways!! Then came Church this Sunday and we brought 11 people to Church!!! It was sooooooooo cool to see, my companion had never brought more than 3 before! Such a blessing from the Lord and they all loved it and say they want to come back this week too!!! The ward here is great too, they all have fellowshippers now which give them rides to Church. We are absolutely SWAMPED with work right now!! Like, ridiculous amounts of people who we visit and teach! It is the greatest, but we realize that the Lord has given us a ton of responsibility and we have got to make the most of it. The Spanish just keep getting better everyday, I LOVE it and am stoked to someday speak Portuguese! Well, that's really all I got this week. Be good!!! And give the kids tons of loves for me!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
We had such a strong week this last week! We taught a LOT of people and saw the gospel change them in incredible ways!! Then came Church this Sunday and we brought 11 people to Church!!! It was sooooooooo cool to see, my companion had never brought more than 3 before! Such a blessing from the Lord and they all loved it and say they want to come back this week too!!! The ward here is great too, they all have fellowshippers now which give them rides to Church. We are absolutely SWAMPED with work right now!! Like, ridiculous amounts of people who we visit and teach! It is the greatest, but we realize that the Lord has given us a ton of responsibility and we have got to make the most of it. The Spanish just keep getting better everyday, I LOVE it and am stoked to someday speak Portuguese! Well, that's really all I got this week. Be good!!! And give the kids tons of loves for me!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
January 26, 2011-Livin on the Farm!!!!!
Hola Everyone!!
This last week has been superb! I love it here in Arizona and I absolutely LOVE speaking spanish!! It is crazy how much my spanish has improved since I have gotten here, I know it is a gift from the Lord, I only wish that all of Brazil spoke spanish...o well! No visas this last week, but we had investigators at church and all of them are going to be baptized here in the next couple of weeks! Plus they have referred us to their family members who seem really promising too! The work is going sooooooooooo great and it is incredible to see how much the Spirit can change people's lives! Up until yesterday we had been sharing the Spanish Ward here with 2 other Elders, but both of them got transferred and President Howes has told us that he isn't going to replace them but instead we are going to cover both their area and our area for at least this next transfer, our area is now close to 80 sq miles! We have quite a few baptisms coming up and now have over 100 people that we are in contact with...we are BUSY to say the least haha I would much rather be super busy than have no work tho. Also, my companion and I have to move out of our apartment...our new house, the top of a member's barn!! How rad is that! Like seriously, it is a barn with cows, horses and all manner of animals, I'm so stoked!! Everything out here in AZ is amazing and I love the spanish work sooooo much. Take care back home, and make sure to give the little ones loves for me!!!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
This last week has been superb! I love it here in Arizona and I absolutely LOVE speaking spanish!! It is crazy how much my spanish has improved since I have gotten here, I know it is a gift from the Lord, I only wish that all of Brazil spoke spanish...o well! No visas this last week, but we had investigators at church and all of them are going to be baptized here in the next couple of weeks! Plus they have referred us to their family members who seem really promising too! The work is going sooooooooooo great and it is incredible to see how much the Spirit can change people's lives! Up until yesterday we had been sharing the Spanish Ward here with 2 other Elders, but both of them got transferred and President Howes has told us that he isn't going to replace them but instead we are going to cover both their area and our area for at least this next transfer, our area is now close to 80 sq miles! We have quite a few baptisms coming up and now have over 100 people that we are in contact with...we are BUSY to say the least haha I would much rather be super busy than have no work tho. Also, my companion and I have to move out of our apartment...our new house, the top of a member's barn!! How rad is that! Like seriously, it is a barn with cows, horses and all manner of animals, I'm so stoked!! Everything out here in AZ is amazing and I love the spanish work sooooo much. Take care back home, and make sure to give the little ones loves for me!!!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
January 19, 2011- The Visas Are Coming!!!!!!!!
Aloha everyone!
So this past week here has been INCREDIBLE and we have seen soooooo many miracles. We have had people tell us they want to be baptized, investigators actually come to church, and many less active (for like years) finally start to come back to church!!! It is so cool because having an investigator come to church and seeing a less active come both bring incredible joy to missionaries, and more importantly the Lord. It has really taught me to not give up on people and realize that deep down in everyone they are actually hungry to know the truth and that's what the gospel brings. We have seen so many times where we will start to either teach or talk with someone and they are super hard and stiff at first but after just a few minutes of bearing testimony and allowing them to feel the Spirit their attitude changes DRAMATICALLY. But ya, life is absolutely great AND this last week 3 people in my MTC district got their Visas!!! We had dinner at this members house on Sunday and all they did basically was rave about how rad brazil is and I will be super stoked when my visa finally does come!! and carnival is next month so brazil will just be one giant party!! I'm not sure if that's great for missionary work hahah but I love you all and hope that in everything you do in life that you know that your Heavenly Father is there for you and that thru His Son we truly will be the happiest we can possibly be in this life. Give the kids and Mom tons of love for me!!!
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
Love,
Elder Michael J. Neilson
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)