Super Heroes!

This week was weird. But we worked really hard and are making progress in a way that we've never had before. And we're firefighters.

So on Monday for Pday we went out to the outlets in Barceloneta and I spent like all the birthday and Christmas money I had on clothes. We'll see if I can pack my suitcases with all the clothes I've bought hahhaha but whatever I'll have to make it fit the next time I have to move.

Aaaaand basically the rest of the week was spent contacting. Literally we contacted for 5 hours straight on Tuesday, and like 5 more hours on Thursday with even more contacting on all the other days. I'm getting way tan. But contacting has actually become really fun for me. I don't have any fear to talk to the people anymore, like if they reject us then they're missing out on blessings and there's nothing I can do if they don't want to listen. And we find some really cool people. Like one guy who had talked with missionaries like 20 years ago and they gave him a CTR ring and he gave it to his dad and when we contacted his house, he asked us for another one. Like this 35 year old guy wanting a CTR ring that's meant for children, usually. Not saying that big tough tattooed men can't wear the tiny green ring. It's just cool.

But this week contacting we found 10 new investigators and 39 as a district. Which is really, really cool and a ton. I think the zone found 90 new investigators and 39 came from just the 3 companionships in Vega Baja. The sister missionaries are literally machines. They have 10 baptismal dates!

On Wednesday we had an appointment at 10am so we left the house early to go to the appointment, and on the way back we saw a fire. And we were like alright whatever it looked like a normal backyard fire. But then the house exploded. And a horse freaked out nearby and I said to Suero "that's not normal", so we took off running to the house and helped the lady put out the fire that wasn't really that big, it was just a pressure washer that exploded. So we put out the fire with the garden hose and we were like super heroes but not really. Suero called the firefighters and we snuck out without saying anything like real superheroes who do stuff and then leave so nobody knows who they were. That's like exactly what I was thinking the whole day hahaha. But then we were sick for like 3 days probably because of all the smoke we inhaled. It was kinda nasty.

On Friday Elder Suero had a meeting in Trujillo Alto (like an hour away) for District Leaders and so I went with him and was working in Trujillo Alto with other missionaries while he was in the meeting. It was pretty cool because I got to work with Elder Wayman and Elder Denney who are both from my MTC group. We just went out and contacted so literally my entire week was contacting. But then the meeting ended and we left and literally starting at the chapel, all the way to Vega Baja, was traffic going like 5 miles an hour. It took us like 4 hours to get back to the house. It felt like one of the longest drives everrrrrrrr.

On Saturday we actually had a ton of appointments. And we had a member to go with us to every single one of the appointments, but because they were all with people we had just contacted during the week, all but one fell through. Apparently only one person really had interest in what we were talking about. I don't get why people say yes and then don't have interest. Like it's easier to just say no. So our day was a wreck because all of our appointments fell through. So we contacted some more. Just like usual.

Life is just hard right now for us in the area because people aren't committing. We weren't able to find Freddy when we had set up the appointment, and now doesn't seem to have much interest. Michelle's husband is still causing her problems because she wants to come to church and be baptized but he is kinda not letting her. But we do have a new baptismal date, with a guy we contacted. He's kinda shaky on it, like doesn't really know what it means but we're working with him.

So the work right now is contacting and finding the people that are really actually interested. It's hard.

There's not much more new here, we're already 3 weeks into this transfer and time seems to continue to fly by. Despite everything that keeps getting in our way, I know the church is true. This is the one true church and Christ lives. Through His Atonement we can be cleaned. One of my focus points last week was to testify more of Christ and all that He did for us. It's really cool when you think more about it and then share your testimony about it with others. All of us can be superheroes when we share our testimonies about Christ.

Love you all!

Elder Nelson