It's been super crazy lately. This last week was pretty nuts
but I think it was one of the most important weeks of my mission as far as
learning and working goes. We did an exchange Monday night thru Tuesday, and
then another Tuesday night thru Wednesday and it was just super nuts. We were
like all over the west side of the island working with different missionaries
trying to help everyone see the goal of the mission and get excited about the
work. I did an exchange one day with Elder Perez in San German, and the next
day I was in Aguadilla with Elder Mancilla.
Herbert got baptized! That was a serious battle. On Monday
we found out that his heart was enlarged and he wasn't getting proper blood
flow through his body. So we were super worried, like what if this old man dies
on us before we can get him baptized! We prayed a ton that things would go
well. Then we visited him and found out that he was probably going to need open
heart surgery to fix his problems... Even worse. At this point we were just
scared that we were going to lose our friend Herbert, because the outcome
didn't sound very good! We visited him on Tuesday and got him to realize that
we love him and God loves him and has given him the opportunity to be baptized
and change his life. So he committed to be baptized, but we couldn't get him to
accept a date. On Wednesday they went back to teach him after he came back from
the doctor and Elder Arteaga and Elder Flores told me that he accepted a date
for Saturday!
Turns out, he went to the doctor and he doesn't have to have
the open heart surgery! They let him go without any problems! It was seriously
a miracle... We have no idea how the results changed but I think it all had to
do with his desire to be baptized and make this covenant with God. So, we got
him ready and on Saturday he was baptized!
After he was baptized they gave Herbert the opportunity to
bear his testimony and I think it blew everybody's socks off... He got up and
just talked so powerfully and really you could tell and see the conversion that
he went through as he made the decision to be baptized, it was super cool.
Also second part of the miracle of Herbert's baptism: I
don't think that we would have been able to achieve his baptism if it wasn't
for Elder Flores. He came in and was able to give all the right answers and
help Herbert see that this was the right thing to do. The Lord put Elder Flores
with us so that we could see this miracle in our area!
Over the two weeks that we were with Elder Flores we saw him
change a ton. From an elder that wanted to go home and abandon the mission, to
an elder that is now determined to make the most of his mission and fulfill the
purpose that the Lord has given him here in Puerto Rico. We had tons of
spiritual experiences just talking with him every night and it all gave me a
really new perspective on the mission and our work here!
Oh, and Juan the Dominican runner came to church on Sunday
and loved it! So we're hoping that he can progress towards his date for the
14th!
On one of the exchanges, I was walking home to the Aguadilla
house with Elder Mancilla and on the side of the road was a guy with a bloody
leg and a 4 foot alligator all duct taped up on the side of the freeway! I
guess he saw it, stopped and got out of his Mercedes Benz and tackled the
alligator... and apparently it got a good chunk out of his leg. But he caught
it, hahahahaha.
That same day as I was in Aguadilla and Elder Arteaga and
Flores and Higgins were in San German, they were walking over a bridge when
they saw what looked like a horse drowning in the river. So they went down and
found an 18 year old kid pulling a yellow rope connected to his horse in the
water... AND THE HORSE WAS SWIMMING hahahahaahaha so they taught the kid right
there by the river and set a baptismal date with him!! Crazy things happen in
PR.
Love you all!
Elder Nelson
Los guapos, sabios, finos jajajajajajaja
Transfers with Elder
Flores
sending off Elder Stringam to his house this morning!
I drove for like 16 hours on Tuesday doing transfers and my
eyes hurt like crap, so Elder Flores gave me these glasses that seem to be
helping hahahaaha we put 645 miles on the car in 2 days and did 2 loops around
the whole island hahaha wooooooooo
It's a play on words in spanish...
Elder Flores and I in
a big E
P O N C E
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