Preaching in Puerto Rico: The Lord's Work (and 95 degrees all the time)

This week was really good! We got pretty good numbers, and visited with a lot of people that we haven't been able to see for a while. And we got a new car so it was a really good week.

Tuesday was really fun. We had a zone meeting in Caguas at 11 but Beecroft had to be there at 10 for a district leader meeting, so we all went with and got there early. We just hung out for an hour with other missionaries and talked while we waited for the actual zone meeting to start. The meeting itself was really good and was wayyyyyy bettter than my first zone meeting because I can understand Spanish now. Honestly life is 30x better when you can understand Spanish. After the meeting we got our new car, a Chevey Cruze which is way nicer than the weak little Toyota Corollas that we had before. So then we went out to lunch and took the coast roads home through the mountains and dang the views on the side of the island going past Humacao are BEAUTIFUL. You're super high up in the mountains and can see forever into the ocean. At one point we could see Viecus (the island off Puerto Rico) and like the entire coast. So I got some cool pictures. Then we came home and worked and had a really good afternoon, got 2 new investigators and had like 3 other good visits.

Wednesday was also a pretty good day. We had Elder Diaz with us in the house from Tuesday night through Wednesday night for an exchange with Elder Beecroft (Diaz is a ZL and Beecroft had to do an exchange with them because he's a DL). So it was fun to have him with us. Then we went out to Patillas and that was pretty good. We got in a few lessons and found a really cool guy who's like 20 and he was just sitting in the grass in a park and started talking to us in English. So hopefully he'll be interested when we come back this week. Oh and Branch Correlation meeting was super long and boring and Diaz had no idea what was going on because obviously Arroyo isn't his branch.

Thursday we went out and visited a lady that we haven't seen for like a month. She's been kinda sick and not in her house but we got to talk to her. And she talked forever. She had so much to tell us and just talked and talked for like 2 and a half hours. I think Borries fell asleep in his chair at one point so she was mostly talking to me and I had no idea what she was saying most of the time so I just smile and nod and say si and act like I know Spanish. Then we went over to a recent convert's house (she's turning 91 soon and has tons of energy) and she gave us crackers and cheese and salami (like the only food she has in her house). And we shared a good message with her. So those two visits took like the entire afternoon. And then we just didn't have a very successful night.

Friday was our day in Las 500s again and this time was not as good as Tuesday. We had good member present lessons lined up and stuff but then the investigators couldn't meet with us. So we only got one less active lesson in but committed him to come to church on Sunday. then we went to Laura's for dinner with her family and are reviewing the lessons with her to see what she remembers and she's actually really good with the lessons so far, but doesn't think she knows enough to be baptized.

Saturday basically we spent the whole day out with a guy named Eric, who's 16 in our branch but is the only member in his family. We went over to his house and talked with him and his brother and we're going to start working with his brother to get him to come to church. Then Eric took us around his whole neighborhood and showed us where all the houses are that missionaries used to go to like a year ago. So that was cool and really helpful. Then we came home and played soccer with Eric and his brother and Alex (our Young Men's President) and like 15 other non-member people. And we kicked their butts. All the Mormons were on one team with some of the other guys, but the other team was stacked with guys that play soccer all the time. We won 16-5 and I had 4 goals. I was on fire man I took like a million shots and had like 4 assists and it was just super fun.

Sunday church was good. We went early and Hermana Martinez brought us pancakes so that was cool. Then in church our less active didn't show up, but we still had 45 people in the chapel. So that's good. Our numbers continue to rise. Then after church we got food from Hermana Roche and I think it was rabbit but idk. It was really good then we went out and really nobody was home and it began to pour at like 5 and got super dark so we went home. And it poured all night. A relief from the heat we had all week. It's supposed to cool down but it has not. Flippin Puerto Rico just stays at 95 degrees all the timeeeeeee.

And now it's P day! It's crazy that I've got like 4 months in my mission already. Feels like I was just in the MTC! But every day I come to know that this church is true more than I knew yesterday. The power of this gospel to bless lives is real. Each day I see how much of an impact this gospel has in the lives of everyone we come in contact with and I love that. I know that this is the Lord's work and that every small effort of missionary work whether from a full time missionary or simply a member in a tiny branch can have a lifelong impact on someone. I'm so thankful for this gospel and the blessings I have in my life because of it. I know it is true with everything I have and I love it.

Hoping all is well at home wherever you all are!

Love,

Elder Nelson