2/23/15

Well if you haven't heard yet, I have been reassigned to serve in the Mesa Arizona mission until my visa arrives. I am super excited. I will be heading there tomorrow. One member in my district is from Mesa, Arizona so it is kind of fun because he is called to Pocatello Idaho! We are kind of switching haha. 

We had our departure devotional and our last Sunday night devotional yesterday. We wished off some people from our district this morning. The rest of us leave tomorrow! I am packing and am ready to go out in the field tomorrow. It is going to be amazing. 

Our agency is one of the greatest gifts God has given to us. We have the option to choose what we want. With God placing us on this Earth without knowledge of our life before, relying purely on our true character, we can make decisions dependent on our true desire. All choices lead to greater decisions and consequences. We choose our choices but we cannot choose our consequences. But only recently have I realized how much greater agency is than I thought it was. We choose more than little decisions. We can choose our reactions and our responses. Our decisions lead us to God or lead us to the Devil. The easiest choice is of the natural man, and that is to be lazy and not strive to be the best we can be. There are mainly 3 things that effect us from accomplishing something from our agency: God's will, faith, and the biggest one i will see on my mission, other peoples agency. We can accomplish so many great things but other peoples choices, which counteract ours, make some things difficult. But agency is beautiful. And when people unite in agency and make the righteous decisions together, miracles can happen. I have seen it here at the MTC. Unity is so important. That's why companionship's are so important on the mission and families are so important in life, they are basic units of unity. And together, with God, nothing is impossible. 

-Elder Nelson

2/17/15

We are all anxiously waiting our reassignments. But sadly, they didn't come yet. This week has been amazing. Its hard to believe we will be out in the field in a week. Its going to be amazing. We all love each other so much and its going to be hard splitting up but we know the Lord has a work for us to do.

My companion and I were able to skype a member from Portugal the other day! It was pretty exciting and fun. She is from Enland living in Portugal and is about to put in her mission papers to serve a mission. She wants to come to the US! Its great to know the language is coming. Its great to know how much the Lord helps you in accomplishing His work.

We are learning a lot about charity, the pure love of Christ. It really is. Two times a week we get up and go do service (one we have to wake up early!). But it is fun and great. Of course it is scheduled service and we don't really have a choice but it still counts for something. But charity is one of the attributes of Christ that everyone can grow on and is definitley one of the most important things we can do. At one our devotionals, Kelly Mills spoke. His talk was centered on charity. One of the things that he said that stook out to me the most was when he said, "Focus on the edges and the center will take care of itself." Or in other words, focus on others and we will be taken care of. I know this is true. The Lord will take care of us when we take care of other people, God's children. We are all God's children, brothers and sisters. So lets act like it. Lets love each other, stop judging, and serve one another will all purpose of heart. So many of us want to become like Christ. One of the best ways to do this is to have charity. For if we think like Him, we will become like Him.

-Elder Nelson

2/10/15

Yesterday we did the fast of English, no English all day and only Portuguese. It was definitely hard to do but pretty fun! Our district seems to be a chosen district and we get to do all sorts of fun things. We were filmed by an Italian film crew for some training video, we get to travel to a place where they have a classroom set up that they are testing and we give our feedback, and now we will be a class for a teacher examination! It is pretty awesome! 

The MTC is going great just as the past weeks! It is a great experience to learn so much every day! With no distractions, so much is accomplished. Exact obedience is the only way to go! We love each other in our district and zone. Love is everywhere and everyone is there for it when you need it.

We watched the movie on Joseph Smith the other day. And something stood out to me. It said Joseph was called in his weakness and the Lord made up the difference. How profound is that! I think it is true for all of us! We are all called in our weakness, every one of us, we agreed to this calling to come to earth. We all knew there would be sickness hardships and difficulties but through them we are able to return back to God's presence and live with our families through all eternity! How great is that! All eternity with the ones you love with complete happiness. We are called in our weakness, in the world, in our daily lives, in everything. I know I am called in my weakness as a missionary but the Lord is making up the difference through my trust in Him. 

-Elder Nelson

2/03/15

Study, study, study. I think I have studied more at the MTC in the past 3 weeks than I have in my whole life. But it is amazing and I love it. There is nothing better to learn than the Gospel of Jesus Christ and how to share it. I love the people here. Everyone wants to become the best they can and wants to grow to become as Christ is. How great is that?!

Our schedule is packed. One thing after the next after the next. There is little time to breath. But there is no better way to do it! There is no time being wasted! Because this time is the time of the Lord! No distractions! 100% obedience! There is no other way the Lord would want it. This is how we all should strive to live our lives.

One great thing that I am coming to learn here at the MTC is faith. Faith in Jesus Christ is the first principle and ordinance of the Gospel. It is the foundation and the first step to personal conversion. It is one of the most important things to recognize and strive to have more in your life. Faith is not a one time thing, it is not an event or obstacle to get over, it is a principle of the gospel that must be lived every second, every hour, and every day. Faith in Jesus Christ can lead to so many great things. Faith is one of the things anyone can improve on. As I began teaching lessons in Portuguese, I lacked faith. I was nervous and wondered how I could ever teach a good lesson and worried about what I would say. The second I realized I needed faith and had faith that the Lord will help me, is the second that the lesson begin to reach the investigator's heart. We all need to strive to have faith in what we do and have faith that if we obey God's commandments and live worthily to the best of our ability, the Lord will prepare us a way.

-Elder Nelson

1/27/15

Como voce esta? 

This week has been absolutely amazing. The MTC is the 2nd best places on the planet I have ever been to. The temple is #1. There a devotionals both Sunday and Tuesday nights. They are fantastic. The talks given are some of the best talks I have ever heard. The spirit is always strong there.

It is absolutely incredible to learn two languages at the MTC. The language of Portuguese and the language of the Spirit. Porguguese comes, but the language of the Spirit it the most important language to learn. To have the Spirit with you when you teach is absolutely necessary. You can't do it without it.

This last Sunday we watched a talk. And it was probably the best talk I have ever heard. It was called Characters of Christ. How great is it what Christ had done for us. Atoning and paying the price of justice for our sins. But in the time of Christ's pain, worse than any of us could even imagine, he thought of others before himself. "Forgive them, for they know not what they do." He forgave everyone and thought of everyone before himself. How great would it be if we could be like Christ, if we could turn outward when the natural man would turn inward. Even in our worst of days, when we believe that everything should be about us and we should get what we want, how awesome would it be if we could think about others. 

I hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful experience we have to be tested. For it is truly amazing. God lives. Jesus lives. This gospel is as true as you and me. 

-Elder Nelson

1/20/15

Oi!

The MTC is one of the most amazing places on earth. Everything here is amazing. So much spirit. So much learning. And so much studying. There is no place I would rather be. Muito bom! If any of you want to email me personally that would be awesome! And if you want to write or Dear Elder me my address is:

Elder Adam John Nelson

FEB24 BRA-CUI

2009 N 900 E Unit 199

Provo UT 84602

I can write and receive letters almost every day. So it would be amazing if you could write me. 

As missionaries, our goal isn't to dunk as many people as we can and baptize them. We aren't trying to force our religion upon anyone. We don't teach. As missionaries, we invite and we help. We invite others to come unto Christ. And we help them by letting the spirit teach them through faith, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. The moment we tune into the Spirit during a lesson, the moment it becomes His lesson, not ours. 

Several times in life, God presents you with an option. One of the options is easy, and allows you to stay in your comfort zone. The other option is to take a leap of faith, step out of your comfort zone, and requires you to leave what you know. The leap of faith is the way which God wants for us. But once we take that leap, you will realize how glad you were that you did. Going on a mission was one of mine. Another one of mine that I will do tomorrow when I go into a lesson and teach in Portuguese. How great the joy when you take a leap of faith. Trust in God. He WILL provide.

-Elder Nelson