Puerto Rico sin luz

Well this week things were a little nuts here in Puerto Rico. We lost power on Wednesday at about 2pm and it seemed like the whole world was going to end! All the Puerto Ricans got in their cars and started driving around for no apparent reason, I assume just to have air conditioning haha. But then we started hearing rumors in the street and we come to find out that a power plant in Salinas blew up and that we were going to be without power for up to a week! So that night and the next night we ended up sleeping on the porch of the house with our mattresses out in the open air where it was somewhat, not a lot, cooler than inside. We loaded up with bug spray and slept outside and honestly I slept great.

But as far as missionary work this week... it was a little complicated because a phone company cut all services and so a lot of the phones weren't working as we tried to coordinate things. And people were always out buying ice and stuff and idk why everybody thinks that when the power goes out we have to get in our cars and drive around for no reason but that's how it seemed to me.

We have a family we're teaching and they're super cool, the mom and the daughter have a baptismal date for the 9th of October, but we have yet to be able to set the date with the dad. The mom is super excited and wants to be baptized really bad, her name is Maria Roman and she came to church and everything on Sunday. She brought her grandson and everybody loved him and I think that made her feel really accepted in church which was really cool to see.

We're working with a 12 year old boy named Ariel who is part of a part-member-family in the ward here. He's been coming to church for like 4 months now and wants to be baptized, but his dad is putting up walls and doesn't want to let him be baptized. And Ariel is scared to tell his dad what he wants to do!! So we're kinda at a standstill until we can convince the dad to let him get baptized. Because the kid is ready, just need the signature from the dad.

We finally got power back on Friday I think... but as we go around town there's still places in San Juan that have yet to fully receive power so it's still kinda shaking things up. As we walked through San Juan with the power out it was soooo loud because all the buildings have giant generators... and apparently when there's no power everybody goes to the bars. So the streets were really loud with tons of people in the bars. Satan has power wherever and whenever he needs it!

Sunday was really cool because the talks that were given in sacrament meeting were super good for our investigator, and I got to translate for some greengos! I got to go to primary and everything and translate for 4 boys super full of energy. It was pretty fun but man they were a handful, hahaha, I did more teaching than the teacher did.

I really felt this week that the Book of Mormon is true. It just hit me again and again that it's true. That the prophets are real and called of God. I know that this is His church. I know it and there's nothing anyone can do to disprove that. I'm so thankful for what I have!

Love you all!

Elder Zack Nelson

Mi distrito!!

Suerrito had a birthday! (Elder Suero and Elder Nelson)

 San Juan skyline kinda

Heyyyy look it's Elder Trump hahahhaha

following His example

Sooo this week was a lot better! We actually had a really cool week, and I think we had a week that seemed to be helpful to everyone in the district!

One super cool part of the week was one day I had mentioned to the sisters in the district that we were going to try and find references for them. So then we went out that day and began to work and the first person we talked to was a woman. But as we taught her on her porch a little about us and the Restoration, she accepted a baptismal date! And then as went continued throughout the day we continued contacting and found another super humble woman who was super duper receptive to the message. So we invited her to be baptized, and she accepted also! It's really cool when you can see the Lord working through others or even yourself and your companion to be able to help other people. We're super excited to be able to pass these ladies off to the sisters so that they can teach them. We see small miracles every day! I think that was huge this week. The sisters then trusted us with a 12 year old boy of a part member family that they've been teaching, but think that we can help him even more. So this week we really kinda discovered how to work together as a district and help each other to achieve our goals!

We also have a super cool family that we're teaching, a family of 3. It's funny because while I was outside of Hato Rey on an exchange, Elder Munoz went with Elder Lopez to visit the family and Elder Lopez is awesome. They taught more about baptism because they already have a baptismal date for the 9th. So as they were teaching, (and I'm quoting because I wasn't there) Elder Lopez says “hermana, I'm going to be really direct with you. Your baptism isn't valid” and she understood perfectly and didn't argue it!! Really showed me how when you're really humble and full of the spirit like Elder Lopez is, you can have a huge impact on the people you teach. He definitely helped this family to understand the meaning of baptism.

Other super cool moment was on Sunday. The Zone Leaders have been teaching a 13 year old buy named Rafael for about 2 months and he was baptized on Sunday. The baptism was really cool, but super spiritual at the end because he bore his testimony of the gospel and just broke out in tears and the spirit just hit me super hard. He just cried and cried and just about everybody in the room broke out in tears. Baptisms are the best!

Today we had a really cool district activity playing soccer and shooting hoops in the sun. The elders from Pontezuela cooked food and brought it and surprised everybody because it actually tasted good, hahahaha, I don't think anybody really expected that.

I think that's about it! Really focusing on the simplicity of the gospel is changing things for us. Now we teach around baptism. Christ always taught the Atonement and then baptism. So, following His example, we're now working to do the same. And it shows. I love the gospel and I know that this is the true church of Jesus Christ. It has been restored through Joseph Smith. He was a true prophet. This is the Lord's work. He guides us and works through us. I love being His servant. I know that this is the only true church, and the ordinances that we do are the only ordinances that will allow us to return back to the presence of our Heavenly Father.

Love you all!

Zack

Here's some pics from the district activity!

(Suero's camera has some weird filter on it, we aren't really that colorful)

I have a lot of pictures, some going back to Caguas --

 Gladys from Caguas

 Noel from Caguas, super cool dude!

Elder Colon, Elder Suero and I at transfers

Pictures from Hato Rey --

 Me and Monica Puig who won the gold medal in Women's Tennis form Puerto Rico!

wow que artsy

 Us at Viejo San Juan in 'El Morro'

 check out my pano skills

big walls and lots of sun

Elder Orr, Elder Suero and I at transfers

 I went on an exchange and I got a bunch of free tshirts, this one dad will like I think

My companion, Elder Munoz, from Mexico

 we attempted to take an Abby Road pic but the timer didn't work

It started to rain super hard as we were walking around El Morro the other day, so we kinda got soaked. But just so you can see the storms that randomly roll in!!

Our attempt at an Abby Road pic like the Beatles.... some funky Australian dude took the picture and with a serious Australian or British accent said ¨wowwww rad!¨ hahaha

 Elder Munoz and I in Viejo San Juan

Old San Juan under a lot of rain!

Contacting and talking and time in the sun

Pues esa semana fue algo dificil. Estamos encontrando in monton pero nos hace dificil encontrar estas personas de nuevo. So es in poco dura la obra cuando no encuentra las personas listas.

But on the bright side I'm on the mission and I can speak Spanish so that's good.

But this week was actually pretty fun. We did find a cool couple and had a solid lesson with them and a member, so hopefully they'll be able to progress soon! Ooohhhh and a family that's super cool, the mom of the wife is Mormon and is super strong in the church in the Dominican Republic, so she committed really fast to come to church next week, so we'll see!

The rough part is not having baptismal dates and investigators in the chapel coming to church with us. But we'll change that fast this week. I realized that as we plan we set goals, but then we don't push ourselves to reach those goals. That's what we're going to focus on this week.

But I think something really cool from this week was the stake conference. A lot of people in Puerto Rico wonder when they're going to have a temple here instead of having to fly out of the island. And the answer that the stake president gave super fuerte was "pay your tithing. If you don't pay, if you reject a calling, or are failing to keep any of the commandments it's because you don't have faith". Like WOW he just told everyone that we need to change our lives and be better. But it's true. When we fail to complete our callings or we don't push ourselves to keep all the commandments it's because we lack faith! We think we know better! We all lack the vision that our Heavenly Father has for us. If we truly have the faith that the Lord will help us and will provide for us, the commandments shouldn't be a problem. Obviously it's a ton easier to say than it is to do. But the concept remains! I think I mentioned this a while back when I wrote something about faith. If we don't have the faith, what we want is never going to happen without the faith in order to achieve it. Like Elder Bednar said in an article in the Ensign, we need to have the faith to be healed, but also have the faith to not be healed. We need to have the faith to accept the will of the Father! But in the long run, we need to know that however things happen in our lives, is how it's meant to be. In the end if we don't have the faith to accept His will, we will never have sufficient faith to receive what we want. There's a reason that faith is the first principle of the gospel. Without it we can't achieve anything.

Honestly that's about it. There wasn't anything super exciting from the week and I really don't remember everything we did. It all seems like a blur right now because it's a lot of contacting and talking and time in the sun.

But that's about it! Love you all!

Zack

Have lots of pictures but haven't been able to get on a computer that allows me to plug in and send them

Elder Moss and Elder Nelson on an exchange the other day

Lots of contacting

Hey everybody!

So this week was pretty good. Still a lot of contacting because there was really nothing here when I got to the area. So we're working hard to find the people that are really prepared to hear the gospel. And this last week we did find some cool people, so hopefully they'll progress this week!

There wasn't anything really special that happened this week I don't think. This week I did do an exchange with Pontezuela, which is part of my district that seems to struggle a lot to find people to teach and don't baptize much. So it was a cool exchange to be able to work there and help them to find more people to add to their teaching pool. I think one of the coolest parts was during the weekly calls I have to do on Sunday nights, I called them and they said that a guy named Angel that we visited on the exchange who's been investigating the church for 3 years got up on Sunday at church and bore his testimony and said that he thinks he's going to get baptized soon. It was a really cool experience with him because he expressed his needs and then we talked about a solution after the exchange and then the elders there went and did it. And it showed immediate results! It's really cool how things like that work. He's a super cool guy and loves the church but just needed that little push. And so it was cool to be a part of the solution there.

We're teaching a guy named Juan here and he wants to be baptized and everything and he's super cool but he's going to be in the DR for like 3 weeks so it kinda throws off the whole goal to baptize him quickly. Although we'll see what happens.

San Juan is cool, it's got some really funky people and some really cool places to visit. Today we were able to go to El Moro which is a big castle thing on the coast of San Juan. It started to pour on us so that made it interesting. I have tons of pics but they don't let us connect things to the computers here sooooo I'll send them sometime soon.

We had a super duper cool conference with the new President of the Area of the Caribe. And he was super cool and really funny. But had some really good points about missionaries. I don't have my notes with me but he said something like "the missionaries are the key to the salvation of the people here in Puerto Rico. No matter how bad they want to be baptized, they can't do it without the missionaries". I liked that, and it gave me a lot of desire and energy to continue working.

I know that this work is the Lord's work. He guides us and works with us here in Puerto Rico and with every member in every place in the world. I love this work and wouldn't change it for the world. The gospel is the greatest blessing we have in this life. It's true.

Love you all!

Zack

John and Tracy Melville visiting from Utah, he's a YSA Ward bishop and they were really cool. They just said "hey let's take a picture and send it to your mom!" So we did. In this ward there's always greengos visiting. 

Hato Rey week one

Well, Hato Rey is the city of the city here in Puerto Rico. It's literally the heart of San Juan. Everything cool about San Juan is in our area. So that's pretty cool. We have Plaza Las Americas which is the biggest mall in Puerto Rico, and it's ridiculously big. And the Old San Juan with the castle thing and all that is in our area. So that's cool. But it's a SUPER fast life here. People will very rarely stop to really talk with you on the street. And I got here and there was like no investigators. So we're contacting a TON.

One of the coolest experiences form this week was probably a lesson we taught on Sunday, to a guy who's like 48 and is totally accepting our message. His name is Juan and he's Dominican and lives in what is really known as the Dominican area of San Juan. He's super cool and really excited to learn more about the gospel. He even like invited himself to church on Sunday! So we'll see what happens, if he's really going to want to progress, but for him we're praying a ton!

We also set a baptismal date with a contact in the first visit. She's a really cool lady named Johanna and she wants to go back to a church and have the blessing of a true baptism in her life. It was a really cool lesson with her and I think it was completely guided by the spirit. But we'll see, if her husband keeps not showing a lot of interest in the gospel then we'll have to pass her off to the sisters here in Hato Rey.

Really that's what happened this week, not much to talk about because it was just a ton of contacting. My comp is Elder Munoz. He's from Mexico and has only 6 weeks here in Puerto Rico, so his Spanish is still really Mexican-ish if that makes sense. He served 7 months in Mexico while waiting for his Visa so he's not a greenie but he is newer here in Puerto Rico. But he's cool, the house is just a party with him and Suero and Elder Orr. Of course we get stuff done and we work like crazy but it's fun to be with them.

Worst part of the week was getting to the Hato Rey house and there was no food for a whole week. Hopefully today we can solve that hahahaha

I think that's about it. My life now has just turned into trying to learn the area, get a hang on the city and stuff and contact my butt off!

But the work is good and I love it still, no matter what the circumstances are. Because the work is needed everywhere!!

Love you all!

Zack

Transfer to Hato Rey tomorrow!

Well not a lot of time today, but update!

I'm being sent tomorrow to Hato Rey, which is a part of San Juan. I'll continue as District Leader and my companion is... well I forgot his name so obviously I don't know him. He's new in the mission and came from Mexico. So we'll see how it goes! And the Suero/Nelson legacy continues: I'll be living in the same house as Elder Suero!

This week was good, we were able as a companionship to hit all the standards of excellence (minus baptismal dates). Which is cool because I think the hardest part is member present lessons and investigators in church. And we had 4 investigators in church!! It was a really cool time in the church on Sunday.

Love, 

Elder Nelson

Justo is a crazy old man but came to church!

Caguas District

food with Willie Berrios today!

the view from Willie's house

Our buddy Tony bought us pizza on Friday

Obispo Arias!

 Hno Jose Santos

Santos family

Cute daughter of one of the members

 La 'Abuela' Aida Ortiz

so we found a mansion with a sweet pool

 La Hermana Maria Pineda who makes some bomb Mangu

Diantre Loco (today and last week's letter)

DIANTRE LOCO

What a wild week. It was soooo good but kinda disappointing at the same time. We had some really cool experiences but all together the sad part is that the people that we had planned to be baptizing on the 20th have all fallen through. Here's a list:

Facundo: talked with his pastor and he said that he can't be talking with other churches.

Jorge: cool story I'll share here shortly but he didn't come to church so he can't be baptized

Robert: I told that story last week but he's kinda crazy and we had to drop him

But the week was cool. We had a really awesome Zone Conference on Tuesday and heard some awesome talks. Sister Boucher knocked it out of the park with a talk about the Restoration. She just explained it so well. The APs gave some really cool talks and advice to the missionaries, and then President came in and just laid it out and man I always leave those meetings feeling so pumped to do the work! It was especially cool because after the meeting we had to go work and we didn't have any appointments. So we put into practice what they taught and we went out to contact and ended up finding 2 families and a really cool 19 year old guy! And then we went back and we were able to share that experience with President and the other leaders in the church that night. It's just amazing the revelation that we can receive for His work.

Another cool experience was when we went out and found a cool 24 year old guy, he's Jorge that I mentioned above. We found him and he invited us back on Friday. So we went and we had a really cool lesson. We extended the baptismal date to him for the 3rd of September, but then I just felt that he was ready. So we set it for the 20th. That's like 9 days of preparation to be baptized. He was all for it. But, you have to come to church before you can be baptized. And he didn't come yesterday because he had to deal with a little emergency that his girlfriend had. So he can't be baptized on the 20th either. Bummer. But, we'll see, he'll get baptized soon.

Other experience: we had been teaching a couple that're like 50 or so but then we dropped them because they didn't progress. But then Saturday we felt that we had to call them. So we did and we went to see them and we had a really cool lesson with a member and they committed to come to church next week. That's a miracle too. 

Just lots of cool small things that stick out and make you realize that this is His work and He's helping us in every bit of it. 

I can't really remember what else happened. I think that's about it. 

Next week we'll know the changes, probably I'll be leaving Caguas!

Love you all!

Zack

Zone Conference fun with Elder McClure

more Zone Conference fun with Elder Henriod

Artsy pic of mi hijo

LAST WEEK'S LETTER --

August 8, 2016

WELL what a week it was...

This week was full of ups and downs literally and figuratively. It was fun and I learned a lot but it was mentally stressful!

So we had a guy named Robert who had a baptismal date for the 6th, but then we found out that he's kinda crazy and really wasn't ever interested in the gospel. His loss. He never really wanted to commit to anything, just kinda went along with it. So, we dropped him. Bummer but there's more fish in the sea. Can't get too beat up over somebody that didn't want what we had to offer. Hopefully someday he comes around!

Friday, we had a really cool meeting for the District Leaders where President literally spoke to my needs like WOW he hit it right on the head. Gave me the info that I need! It was super spiritual and I learned a ton about how to really work and find and stuff, all through Faith. If we really understand that we are here on the Lord's errand and that we are entitled to His help, we will be able to achieve what He knows we can. The hard part is just putting it into practice. Because as a missionary everyone basically understands that we're here on the Lord's errand and that we can have His help but when we really get around to REALLY understanding it and putting it into our lives, we can achieve so much more than we get right now. It's just a matter of finding the way to change and be better and put that knowledge into our lives. And it goes for us as regular members too, or even normal people outside the church. We're here on earth to return back to Him and if we truly understand the divinity of who we are, and the help we're ENTITLED to, we can do so much more in our lives. We just need to understand where we truly come from and who we really are and then we can see the power that He can give to us in our lives. Then it becomes a matter of working on it.

President along with that, assigned a few scriptures, Moroni 7: 27-30, and 33. These verses talk about miracles and how even though Christ is not on the earth right now, the miracles continue to come to pass. But, they only come to pass according to our FAITH. Faith leads to action and then to the miracles. Idk, just some thoughts that I've had, lots of time spent thinking about these things and how to apply them to myself!

The week for us was cool but rough, we went up some unnecessary hills and then ended up not seeing the success that we wanted but now we have a basically clean slate and we're going to work hard to be able to see the results that the Lord has prepared for us to achieve in the next few weeks. Just comes down to dedication and desire I think. It's hard but worth it, and we're entitled to His help!

Anyways, Elder Colon and I get along super well, we're always laughing and having fun and enjoying the work. He definitely helps me to keep my attitude up!

Just think about the things that President Boucher talked about. As His children, in His plan, we are entitled to His help. If we feel lost or abandoned or anything like that, we have that promise. We are entitled to His divine help. That promise will always be present in our lives and I know that is true. Miracles have not ceased and I know that the chapter 7 of Moroni is true. Miracles have not ceased, but if we have ceased to see them in our lives, it is because we lack something. What more can we do? What do I lack? He will help us. This is His true church, the only one. He leads it and wants the best for us, as does His father. Do we have the faith?

Love you all!

Elder Nelson

 Me and Elder Ourth after the District Leader meeting