Toa Baja Zone Christmas party picture

Toa Baja Zone Christmas Party (Dec.17, 2015)  Elder Nelson - back row, middle (under the light)

Merry Christmas!

(received Dec. 25, 2015.  Zack said he tried to send it on P-day and thought it went through but then when he got on the computer on Christmas he saw that it hadn’t sent)

December 21, 2015

Hey guys this week was really long and hard and it kinda sucked so I really don't want to talk much about it but I will anyway wooooooo!

Basically the best part of the week was on Monday when we met with the family that had 2 baptismal dates. We had only talked with the dad and the daughter previously but this night we got to talk with the mom too. We had a really good lesson and watched a video about the Plan of Salvation. After the movie I asked the wife if she would commit to be baptized just like her husband and daughter had last week. Super cool because she accepted without hesitation! This family is so ready! The only problem is that the dad is a meat vender and has like his own independent distribution company. And he works a ton especially in the Christmas season, because Puerto Ricans buy a lot of meat for Christmas. So it's really hard to get into their house to teach them. But this family is so ready to be baptized!

The rest of the week was rough. We had a ton, and I mean a ton, of appointments. But like luck would have it, they all fell through. We barely even got to talk to our investigators this week because everyone seems to be in this Christmas mode which is understandable but makes the mission work really hard during this time.

Wednesday we walked into an urbanization and found a car accident. The guy was trying to commit suicide and ran his tiny Toyota Yaris into a wall. The suicide didn't really work because it kinda just deflected and got jammed between the wall and a tree, and the guy was fine he just had to go to the hospital. Like all the people in the area were around this tiny car and some nutty guy who was probably high tried to pull it out with his tiny truck and he couldn't do it hahahaha. The druggies in Vega Baja are super funny. One guy came up to me and asked me if I have the pics of his brother. I had no idea what he was talking about and then he said "you know my older brother?" Somehow I figured out that he was talking about Jesus Christ and he wanted one of our passalong cards! So I pulled out all the different cards I had in my bag and he was like "no I have that one. No I have that one. Oh dame eso! (give me that one!)". The druggies are weird man but they make the work interesting.

Friday we got to go to the Mission President's house for a Christmas party with the entire zone of Toa Baja. It was super fun and Hermana Boucher makes such good food my goodness she cooks so well. It was super fun to get the gifts from our families and gifts from President and stuff and then take pictures with everybody and yeah. And we got to watch the video that Sister Boucher made of all the missionaries (which if you haven't seen or want to see you can email my mom) and it was really funny to watch all the missionaries from my group with like 6 weeks in the field trying to speak Spanish and repeat a phrase from a quote. It was just a really fun night. But then the drive home was sooooo long we didn't get home until like 11 because of a traffic jam like 20 miles long on the freeway. 

And that was the week. Super super long. Not a lot of success. But we're just really hoping we can keep working with this family to get them baptized! They're just super humble and you can tell these people are ready to change their lives.

Actually here is the link to the video! 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwQQK-k0zc8&feature=youtu.be

If you have a chance, watch the video that talks about Christ and all that he did for us. As we celebrate the Christmas season take the time to remember why we celebrate. I know that Christ suffered for me and you, each and every person and all of their afflictions. He is our Savior. Our Redeemer, and we owe it all to Him.

While you're watching that video, go to navidad.mormon.org (that's what it is in Spanish, I'm assuming it's christmas.mormon.org in English but I have no idea) and watch the videos there on that site about Christ and the reason for the season!

Espero que todo puedan disfrutar de esta epoca de navidad con sus familias!

Love,

Elder Nelson

Merry Christmas from the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission

(see Elder Nelson around the 2:55 mark)

Dear Family and Friends,
Click on the link below to see a special Christmas message from all the missionaries in The Puerto Rico San Juan Mission.  We hope your holidays are filled with joy and love and that you have a chance to appreciate the divine gift of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Love, President and Sister Boucher

Queridas Familias y Amigos,
Hagan un clíc abajo para ver un mensaje navideña especiál desde todos los misioneros de La Misión Puerto Rico San Juan. Esperamos que sus fiestas sean llenas de gozo y amor y que tomen la oportunidad de apreciar el don divino de nuestro Salvador Jesucristo.
Con amor, Presidente y la Hermana Boucher

https://youtu.be/NwQQK-k0zc8

Set 2 baptismal dates!

Okay so last week was weird because we were in the mission offices and President Boucher said we could use the computers there to write home but we were writing and like 30 minutes in, we got kicked off so that a sister missionary could do an English test because it's her last transfer and needs to pass the test. So we got kicked off and the only email I got sent was to President Boucher. So I sent a nice long letter home with all the info from the week and if you have time maybe you can type it up and put it all into the blog for me.  

(That letter has not arrived)

Monday (Dec.7) We went to Bayamon for a doctor's appointment for Elder Suero. We went and spent like 4 hours in the office with a bunch of children hahaha. Then we went to the mission offices and talked with President Boucher just to catch up and stuff. He gave us packages for us and all that stuff, anything that had been sent to the offices for us. Then we went to lunch at Church's Chicken and stuffed ourselves and yeah. We came home and slept because we left the house on Pday at 6am I mean who does that but we did and I was pooped. Also the traffic was so bad to Bayamon because I don't think Puerto Ricans really know how to drive in the rain. They need to live in Oregon for a while. Monday night we met with some investigators and set 2 baptismal dates! A dad and a daughter for January 2nd. It's hard to meet with the rest of the family because they're so busy but we have confidence that this week we can commit the rest of the family to baptism.

Tuesday we had a zone meeting and talked about our mentalities in the mission and stuff and I actually learned a lot from this meeting. Then we came home and we had a few appointments but they all fell through so we did a lot of contacting, as usual. It was interesting because we ended up teaching the parents of one of the investigators we have.

Wednesday we contacted el dia enteroooooo which means we contacted all dayyyyyy and we really got nothing. We went to one part of Vega Baja that was super sketchy and apparently is like 1 of 4 drug points in Vega Baja and it was weird and we didn't really feel safe so we left. We found nobody to teach this day, I think a lot of that was because we were kind of in bad moods leaving this area because we thought we could find a lot of people but it ended up being a bust. So that was rough and I think it effected the rest of our day.

Thursday was really weird too because we had weekly planning and we ended up planning for like 4 hours for the investigators we have and how we can improve our work here. We made some really good plans and now just need to put them into action. But because we planned for so long, we only worked like 2 hours before the Book of Mormon class that we put on every Thursday. So we had the class and during the class the Sisters needed their tire changed so I changed it and from what I heard, the people in the class were more interested in what I was doing than in the class itself hahahaha

Friday we also contacted the whole day and came out with big fat zeros again. ZEROOOOOO. We found nobody to teach. It was a rough day and as you can probably tell we kinda had a rough week. But yeah Friday was rough on our attitudes.

Saturday we did like 7 hours of service and ate really well with a less active lady in the ward. She cooks really well but this time we had to earn her food by cutting her grass and stuff. And the grass was like 3 feet tall and a mess and took wayyyyyy longer than we expected. But we got the food so that's what matters! The rest of the day was pretty good. We visited with a lot of people to invite them to church.

Sunday we expected to have 2 investigators in church but she ran into a small problem that I don't think is really appropriate to put in my blog. But I'll hint at it anyways because she found it necessary to tell us about it hahahhaa. She woke up and it was her feminine time of month and couldn't come to church. She explained the whole thing to us through text hahahaha it was really weird. Suero texted back and said "you can come for just an hour! There's bathrooms here!" And she didn't respond hhahahahaa I died when I read the text, man I died. After church we went out with Hermano Laureano and visited a bunch of less actives all afternoon. Then we came home and found out about Transfers and nobody is going anywhere this transfer. So that's cool.

But yeah it was a really long and hard week. And we didn't have a lot of success. But we know that we're working hard and that the success will come with time. Just have to keep telling myself why I'm here and that things will work out better as we continue to work hard.

I know that this is the gospel of Jesus Christ. I know it because I have prayed and studied it. I heard the other day that the measure of our conversion in the gospel is in our desire to share the gospel. And I've seen my desire grow so much in the last 6 months, so hopefully that means that my conversion is progressing. Keep that in mind because it's a good idea!

Love you all and have a good time sharing this Christmas Season with your families!

Love,

Elder Nelson

Me and Elder Suero

Our district this last transfer.  Hermana Kirkland is going home tomorrow.


LETTER WRITTEN 12/8/15 (received Dec. 15)
Monday (Nov.30) was P-day and I have no idea what we did.  I can't remember which either means we worked hard this week or it was really boring, but I think it was fun and we worked hard.  In the words of Elder Suero, "we do muchas vinas!"  I do know we found 2 new investigators with potential.
Tuesday (Dec.1) was really good with 2 lessons with member present.  We had a good district meeting with the Zone Leaders and then had a lesson with our most progressing investigator.  We took Hermana Rivera and her daughter Angelica with us and they helped the lesson so much.  What was weird was when we went to set a baptismal date for her and her son, something happened that interrupted the spirit -- we still don't know what happened, it was really weird - but we we couldn't get them to commit to a date.  But overall it was a good day.
Wednesday was rough.  We had no lessons lined up, well one but it fell through.  So we contacted el dia entero.  The entire day contacting and could only find people that have no interest.  So it was a really long day, but was better when Hermano Laureano bought us pizza for the correlation meeting.
Thursday was also really weird.  We planned for next week and then went out and contacted.  Then we went to the weekly Book of Mormon class and that was basically the end of our day because after the class we went to Levitown and picked up Elder Burton to do and exchange with Elder Amaro.
Friday we again contacted el dia entero.  Literally all of our appointments fell through and we ended up contacting because whitewashing is hard.  But, we did get in 4 lessons with 4 new investigators so that was good.  But still was a very long day.  Finished the day taking Elder Burton back to Levitown and eating Panda Express.
Saturday we got up an did 5 hours of service at a less active's house.  It was weird because there were chicken eggs all over on the ground and apparently they explode if you touch them.  I think it was Amaro that touched one and it exploded and smelled so bad.  Then we came home and showered and went out to work.  But again, every single appointment we had fell through.  We ended up contacting the rest of the day and didn't really find anybody.  So it was a little discouraging but we know we're working hard.
Sunday we had church and planned to have 2 investigators at church but apparently they slept through their alarm or something.  After church Vigo and Sean Michael sent our with us to visit a family we contacted.  At first we weren't sure if they'd have potential, but the lesson went well and we'll continue to work with them.  Then we went with Hermano Laureano to the hospital to visit some less actives.  Hospitals suck because they're always freezing inside.  But it was a good day all together.

As we finished this week we weren't able to set any baptismal dates like we wanted to, but we see a lot of potential in what we have and hopefully can meet our goals this week.  As we met with Michelle and Hermano Rivera on Tuesday, it's truly amazing how much a member and their testimony can help a lesson.  The testimony, no matter how strong can help any lesson and help others come unto Christ.  No matter what happens I know that to be true and I know this is the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!  He is directing work here as He is in every mission.  I'm so thankful for the opportunity I have to serve.

Love you all!
Elder Nelson

November Zone Conference

November 2015 Zone Conference