General Conference hits you in the heart!

GENERAL CONFERENCE ESTA BRUTAL hahaha no but really it just hits you in the heart!

This week was a week of small miracles, being able to teach some people that have a lot of potential. So here's an update:

Herbert Santiago: He's 82 and he's super smart and even though it seems like he sleeps in our lessons, he's always paying attention. We were super worried about teaching him the Word of Wisdom this week because he says he's a salve to the coffee... and he has a baptismal date for the 15th. But we taught it and then at the end of the lesson asked him "so... will you commit to it?" And then his granddaughter walks in and says, "Herbert doesn't drink coffee. He's gone a whole week without it!" LIKE WHOA WHAT A MIRACLE!! So we were able to talk a little more and he's really really wanting to be ready to be baptized on the 15th! I know that it was our preparation and concern for him that made it possible for him to feel the need to drop the coffee a week early. Still don't know why he did it, but it's an answer to our prayers.

Carlos Reyes: He's about 40 years old. I contacted him with Elder Corales about 3 weeks ago and we didn't have a lot of contact. He was really interested in the Book of Mormon. So the other day I just texted him and we got him to agree to come to the church for a lesson. And man it was powerful teaching the Restoration in the chapel to a man who's completely open to it. But he didn't want to commit to a baptismal date. Work in progress ;)

Jean Luis: He's a new 19 year old we found the other day. We taught a solid Restoration to him and he seemed to really think about the possibility of having an eternal family. He has a lot of potential as well!

Conference really in the end I think just made me love the mission even more... The strength in being able to testify that we have a living prophet on the earth is amazing. I've felt the truth in that statement as I've testified of in and heard the testimonies of others this week. I love being a part of the true church of Jesus Christ. I know that it may be hard at times, but for that reason the prophet and the apostles gave us direct revelation on how to combat the obstacles!! It's true and all we have to do is simply live the principles of the gospel.

It's been raining a ton here which reminds me of OREGON!

10 weeks hahahahaa WOOOOOOOO

Love you all!

Elder Nelson

Me and Elder Mancilla (greenie). Wendy's parking lot exchange, photo at 9 at night. 

New Comp, working hard & a Zone activity!

This week was really good!

Tuesday night we got home at like 9:30 after being on the road all day! We had transfers, so it was just a crazy day. And there are 21 new missionaries in Puerto Rico! So I was in charge of driving some of them around from President's house to the chapel where they meet their trainers and stuff. It was fun and stressful. But it's always cool to see the new missionaries and feel their love for the work!

We worked super hard during the week and we saw the fruits. We worked a lot with the members and taught an old guy named Herbert. He's been an investigator for a while and had a baptismal date but now he has another one and came to church on Sunday and loved it! It was really cool to have him there, he was super happy.

We've really been working to help the Young Single Adults work more in the work, and this week I think we saw more excitement from them and we were able to also find some cool younger people that have potential to progress in the gospel.

Today we had a Zone activity and we got to play water balloon volleyball and some other games in Mayaguez in a park close to the beach. It was really cool to just laugh and relax with the zone and have fun together. As a zone we came to the conclusion that we want to baptize 22 people in April. That's a huge number and has never been achieved before... so here we go! We really got to break it down and talk about how we're going to do it. So we're really positive about this goal and we're hoping we can achieve it!

Elder Arteaga is a really good companion (my new companion, he’s from Mexico). He wants to work hard and is really centered on working with the members and doing activities and stuff. So we're going to try and do more activities to see if we can get a younger crowd to come to church!

This truly is His work and I can see it more than ever. Now is the time that the Lord needs our help to bring to pass all that he has planned for His children. I know that this is His true church.

Love you all!

Elder Nelson

Elder Bradford (the big one), Elder Willes (smaller one), and me at the Zone activity

Elder Arteaga selfie

With Elder Corales and Bishop Rodriguez

it just makes you love the mission!

Man I can't keep track of the time anymore! I swear I try to do something and all of a sudden the time is gone or gets used in something else. I have no idea how President Boucher can manage the whole mission. This week was full of surprises and some let downs, but we did see a really cool miracle.

Things have been rough as a zone. Only the sister missionaries in the zone have been baptizing. The elders in the zone haven't had a baptism in over 3 months. Which is rough, really rough. So we've been trying to figure out what's going on... but things just continue the same!

The baptism we were supposed to have on Saturday fell through. We had a 9 year old boy lined up to be baptized but apparently his family wasn't ready to support him or something... we passed by like 3 times in 2 days and nobody would answer us or tell us what was going on. Basically they kinda shut us out. But hopefully now we understand the situation a little better and now we can work a little slower to prepare him to be baptized.

On Sunday we out to another city that I had never worked in and we felt that we had to talk with a dad and his 16 year old son who were playing a pretty serious 1v1 game of basketball. So we kinda stopped the game and talked with them and they were super cool! The dad was like in love with the Book of Mormon and wants to come to church and looks like they both have some serious potential! So in the midst of so many distractions and the craziness of the week and the stress we have encima, I think we found a little miracle and we'll see what comes of it!

On Saturday we got to go to a conference with Elder Andersen of the Quorum of the 12, and it was awesome! The spirit was so strong there. I also got to shake his hand so no big deal... But he talked a lot about helping the Young Single Adults to bring their friends to church and it's so true! They know everybody and are way better at talking to their friends than we are! So that's our goal, is work more with the YSA. Literally you could just feel how inspired his talk was... Goodness gracious it just makes you love the mission. After the conference I felt like I never want the mission to end!

I know that this is His church. We are the only ones that can do His work because we have the truth! The Restored Gospel is what every person needs, even if they don't recognize it right now.

Love you all!

Elder Nelson

T-minus 86 days hahahha wooooooooo

With Elder Corales and Sergio Eynar (a recent convert) in the San German plaza

With my companion, Elder Corales

Working hard in the Zone!

This week was so hectic. It's been really mentally straining lately to try and get everything done plus work in our own area. With Zone meetings and meetings with President Boucher and exchanges and all kinds of stuff just make it really stressful. But we manage, good life practice I guess, hahaha.

So last week we had a huge miracle with Yaniel (the 9 year old boy) coming to church. We went and visited him again this week and we were able to set a baptismal date with him for the 18th! The only problem is that like 80% of his family are less active members so they don't really give him the support he deserves. He really only gets support from an aunt and an uncle who were the ones that brought him to church. But then yesterday they didn't even come to church! So Yaniel didn't get to come and we have to see how we're going to finish the prep to get him baptized.

On Tuesday we were in Mayaguez for a Zone meeting and President showed up and helped us a lot with the teaching in the meeting. He always brings a spirit that we can never nail. Then we talked with him about the zone and went back to San German for like an hour, had an appointment with Herbert (who's our 83 year old investigator) and then we went back up to Mayaguez and met with President again to talk about the zone over dinner at Denny’s. Which was really good. Then we went up to San Sebastian to a meeting with the Stake President to talk about the work. Then we went out to Cabo Rojo for an exchange and I stayed there working with Elder Bradford. It was a pretty solid exchange, there's just lots of problems in the zone right now. Not a lot of success.

Saturday we were both in Aguadilla all day working with the elders there. It was super hot and sunny. Which killed my face. I didn't have any sun block- not that I usually use it anyway... but my face got destroyed in the sun! It was really cool though working in Aguadilla. We found one guy that was super cool. We walked past his house once, then walked past it again and I felt like we should talk to him but we didn't stop. Then his son kicked a ball into the street and I went and got it and we had the opportunity to talk with him and he was super cool! Just the small miracles make the day worth it, especially when you listen to the spirit!

Love,

Elder Nelson

Aguadilla exchange with Elder Higgins and Elder Martinez

March MLC meeting (Mission Leader Council)

Just small little miracles! Prayers are answered.

Honestly this week was like the week of prayers being answered. We've worked so hard lately to try and find a baptism and finally our prayers were answered but it took a ton of work!

We spent a whole week from 9 to 10:20pm searching through old area books and records that the missionaries have made in the past, looking for people that would have interest in the gospel and could be baptized in March. Friday night at like 10pm we finally found what we thought we were looking for, but it was a long shot. So we went out on Saturday and found the family and it turns out the family had been living outside our area for like 6 years and just the other day moved back to San German! So we found them and found the little boy and asked his aunt and uncle to bring him to church on Sunday. AND THEY BROUGHT HIM TO CHURCH AND HE LOVED IT. It was super cool. Just small little miracles!

We also found two really cool couples in places that I had no idea we would find them. We were out in the middle of nowhere and found these 2 couples that were super cool.

That was the week really. Just lots of work and searching and finally it paid off and we saw a miracle!

I know that prayers really do get answered, just not in our time!

Love you all!

Elder Nelson

Sick all week, but pressing on!

I was sick all week. That basically sums up the week! Hahaha. BUT WE ALL PRESS ON IN THE WORK OF THE LORD

Tuesday morning I woke up with a sore throat and thought it was just a little bug so I kept going, and we had a really rough day. Really nothing happened. Tuesday night I went to Aguadilla for an exchange and that was the absolute worst night of my life. With a headache that I thought was going to kill me! I didn't sleep at all.

Wednesday we worked super hard, me and Elder Higgins, and we had a pretty good day but man I felt like I was going to collapse on the concrete. We did so much contacting and the sun was extremely hot and torturous. I think that really describes the weather lately!

Thursday we contacted TODO EL MUNDO and set up lots of appointments and found a cool old guy that said that like 3 years ago he almost got baptized in the Mormon church. But he's old and almost fell asleep in the lesson. We'll see what happens, he could be our miracle this transfer!

Friday we had a day full of lessons and I was still sick! This was the best and funniest part of the week for us. We had a lessons with a couple named Edwin and Yamilet and we went with a member named Rafa. He shared a super solid testimony and it was super good. But they didn't commit to come to church. The funny part was that the ward had an activity at the same time we were in the lesson and somehow the missionaries got put in charge of everything! We were about to teach and we get calls from like 7 members "hey where are you guys and why haven't you opened the chapel???" We were like "well... we're teaching and didn't know we were in charge!"

Saturday we had a good day, it's just been rough with lots of plans falling through and people not wanting to make commitments!

Anyway, life is good even when you're sick and contacting all day every day and it's super hot and nobody wants to make commitments! It's the Lord's work, why can't we be happy??

Remember to say your prayers, read the scriptures, and go out and work with the missionaries. It's part of your salvation and theirs!

Love you all!

Elder Nelson

with Elder Higgins!

Elder Corales crowding the dessert table! hahaha

Zone Conference last week

Time is flying! The mission is the best!

MAN TIME IS FLYING

It's nuts how fast time is flying on the mission right now. The weeks just go by in an instant!

This week, not a lot happened but it's always interesting. I think the best part was when we went to visit Luis Montalvo, who's an investigator that we've had for a while but he has problems with drugs and stuff. The elders found him here like 10 months ago but they really just pushed him to stop using drugs and he didn't understand the need to be baptized or any of that. So now we're really focusing on his testimony and it was amazing to see the change in him. He's been reading and completing all of his assignments and it's truly made a difference in his life. He told us on Saturday that just simply reading the Book of Mormon has made him happier and has given him the desire to change and be better. I really felt the spirit as he explained that he feels happier and less stressed as he reads. And I know it's true! Reading the Book of Mormon truly will bring us the happiness and answers that we need in our life!

On Friday we had a Zone Conference in Mayaguez and it went really well. I was kinda feeling iffy about how I taught but everyone said it went really well. The cool part was when Hna Boucher announced that we're going to do a special Book of Mormon read up until Easter about the Atonement and life of Christ. As I've started to read, I can already feel again again that it's true and that Christ is our Savior!

Just work work work out here on the mission and it's awesome! The mission is the best!

Love you all!

Zack

P.S. T-minus 4 months hahahahaha

 APs, ZLs, and the Hermanas de Cabo Rojo

APs, ZLs, and the Hermanas de San German

Me and Lopezitoooooo