5/25/15

It is hot here! Hottest place I have ever been in! Its awesome though! Rainy days are the best! 

We had a few people stop us on the road this week asking who we are and what we do. We were able to talk to them about what we do and the church. One person asked us what mormon is. We explained that he was a prophet. She then asked if he was a prophet in the bible. We said no... she then didnt want to hear what we had to say. Haha but we eventually could finish what we were saying that he was a prophet in a record called the Book of Mormon. And that God wants everyone to hear of the gospel and He talks to all people. We were able to make an agreement and get her address to teach her more.

Families are probably the most important thing on the earth! We were able to testify of this several times this week. The family is the most central part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the most important unit in the world. The family is where everything starts. The family can be eternal. The family is where we should focus most our efforts. Times to strenghten our families in any way are times spent worth more than anything in the Lords eyes. 

We had the opportunity to have zone confrence this week and it was awesome! We talked a lot about potential. About how everyone has extrodinary potential. Potential that no one can comprehend. And most of us limit ourselves by what we see others doing around us, what we believe our limits are, and other things. But realisticly, we have potential way beyond than what we can comprehend. We were made this way. God made us so we can grow. There is never a point where we will stop growing. There is always room for improvement and potential.

-Elder Nelson

5/18/15 and Pictures

Rondonópolis has been pretty great! It is a lot hotter here so that is fun! I recieve my new companion, Elder Alvis. He is a great Elder. He is a brazilian so it is great to talk portuguese to him all the time. But he is also learning english so it is great to help him out with that. Our area is way bigger than my old one so we walk a lot! But its good!  

The bus ride was fun! I took two busses 8 hours each! And i had the awesome experience of making a friend on the bus! There was a guy next to me on the assingned seats and i was able to talk to him a lot! I found out he is a doctor from bolivia! We were able to talk a lot about religion and i was able to teach him about the book of mormon and the restoration! I gave him a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet too! It was great to meet him, he was an awesome guy!

We have some awesome people we are teaching. We are able to visit one guy who speaks 6 languages including ingles. So it was good to talk to someone in ingles after a few days of only porguguese! I live in a house with 3 brazilians! So it is pretty fun. I rarely see americans, only on pday like today where i see other elders in the zone that are americans. It is pretty great. 

This is our water supply every day! And as you can see, my old house here didnt really have a ceiling!

Those little wires you see are our heat! We dont have water heaters so no warm water for the tap!

Me saying goodbye to all the friends i made in Ponta Porã. 

Me and our awesome member friend who would help us with everything.

Me in my rede(hammock)

5/11/15

I recieved some sad but exciting news at the end of the transfer yesterday, I will be transfered to a new area, Rondonopolis, and recieving a new brazilian companion! It is sad after getting close to the people, the area, and my companion but it will be good! Either I need Rondonopolis, Rondonopolis needs me, or both. I trust the Lord!

We met another amazing family this week. The parents are awesome and they have two amazing kids. We had an awesome opportunity to have a noite familiar (family night) with them where we played guitar, ate some people, and had a good time! Its awesome to see the kids grow and their desire to know more about the gospel and the Book of Mormon even though they are young in age! The best part is to see peoples lives improve as they learn more about the gospel, i know that is true. As we increase our knowledge about the gospel our lives will improve and be blessed.

We were also able to leave a message at the noite familiar. We had an awesome object lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. On how we take a journey to an awesome place but have 2 lakes to get over on the way back. We have a friend who makes bridges and he made one over the first lake for free but required 5 dollars for the second bride. And after we paid the 5 dollars we were able to cross the second bridge and get home safely. We compared it to life and how we took a journey to the earth. The two lakes represent physical death and spiritual death, where we wont be able to live with God again. Jesus Christ, is our friend who made both bridges for us. But the second bridge, spiritual death, requires us to have faith, repent, be baptized, recieve the gift of the Holy Ghost, and endure to the end. I know that this is true. And we can all return and live with God and our families forever if we do these things! Have a good week!

-Elder Nelson

5/4/15

Yet another amazing week! A lot of great experiences!

This week we did a lot of contacts! We knocked(Clapped) on a lot of doors! Everyone will come out and say hi but not everyone will let you in to share a message. They say that is just here in Ponta Porã because people are rich. But we spent a day doing contacts where we didnt get in any door(gate) we went to! And then another day where we got in every door we went to! It was pretty great! We met an amazing family with a brand new child. We love them so much and hope to grow with them a lot! 

It is the rainy season here in Brazil so about once every week it will just poor. Out of no where. Yesterday we were trying to find a house of one of our recent converts. We thought it was this one house so we clapped, asked, and it wasnt. Then i thought maybe it could be another so we clapped, asked, and it wasnt. So we started to walk away but then it started pooring. The lady insisted we come in under the covering. So we did. We ended up talking for a while and sharing a message while the rain trapped us in. She then expressed how she knew we were meant to be there by God and she needed to hear what we had to say. Even though she was a strong catholic, she expressed her gratitude and her surety that we are servants of the Lord. How great is that! We hope to return to her house and talk about the pamphlet we left with her. But how awesome to know that I was an instrument in the Lords hands! I didnt know it at the time i was telling my companion i think this might be the house! I just thought it could be the house we were looking for! When really it was the Lord working through me! So amazing!

We also have been visiting a member who hasnt been having the best time lately. He has been stressed with all the things in his life and worried about what to do. We were able to talk to him about the big picure of life. And how if we are too focused on one thing, we cant see all the other things that are in our life. It will cover our view. We all need to focus on the big picture and what God has in store for us and how at any moment of our life is just a little part of a big plan for each of us. I was able to read my patriarichal blessing this week and how awesome is that! The Lord has blessed us with a blessing that will promise us great things in our lives if we would just be obedient and heed to the council in the blessing! It was so great to look at that and see the personal liahona in my life.

I know this gospel is true. I know that God knows every single one of us individually and has a plan for each one of us. I know that He can and will help us. All we need to do is trust in Him and ask. God can give us strength to get through difficult times. And we can and will come to know of the truth of His gospel if we ask in faith. I know that if we dont rekindle and keep feeding our spiritual fire, it will go out. If we need to, we can ask God again and again if the church is true to recieve a peace and reasurrance that will feed our spiritual fire. Doubt is not of God. The blessings of this gospel are infinite. I know this.

-Elder Nelson