10/24/16

This week has been a challenge. We believe that we are being tested. We had to travel this week and we both got a little sick. I even lost my voice for a few days. So it was super difficult to meet our goals but we were able to. 

We were able to mark baptimal dates for three of our investigators for this week. We are really happy and excited for them. This week will be amazing. 

Our zone is really excited and working hard. We are raising the bar in everything to find the potential in everyone. 

-Elder Nelson

10/17/16

This week started a little bumpy. It rained a lot and we had to travel this week. But it seemed that yesterday all our hard work payed off and a lot of miracles happened. 

We visited a contact that we did and he has been waiting for the missionaries to talk to him 10 years. He had helped paint a church building one time and always wanted to learn about the church. He has prayed to find the true church but read a scripture that told him to wait. It was super awesome to teach him, he understood the message completely.

We also visited with a guy who is in college. He told us he had a few questions and we got a little scared that he would throw at us a lot of doubts that he found on the internet. But instead he asked us real questions about what we believe to do bad for our bodies and all sorts of things. At the end of his questions he asked what he needs to do to be baptised and he said he would do what it takes to get there.

We also marked the baptism of our friend who got married last week for next week. We are super excited and super proud that he made this decision. 

We are seeing miracles and things will only get better from here. Hard work pays off.

Everyone have an amazing week!

-Elder Nelson

10/10/16

We had the opportunity to marry one of our investigators this week! They have a bus that goes around the city and does things such as marrage for free. Because normally, marrage is a little spendy. So it was a super cool experience to help them complete another step to Christ. 

The ward is preparing several ideas to prepare for the dedication of the new church building in November. We will invite everyone, all the members, all the people we encounter on the road, all the local government, and a lot more to participate in the dedication. We are excited to visit and invite everyone. We are going to work hard for this. I just hope i stay around long enough to see the dedication. 

We had a lot of things that came up this week that we were almost not able to meet our goal. But it seemed that a miracle happend and people started to call us over to teach them. We were super surprised but it was great. We were able to meet our goals and meet tons of awesome people. We are excited for all that will come, and it will be a lot. 

Everyone have an amazing week!

-Elder Nelson

10/3/16

General conference! We watched general conference this week and it was great! I always have a hard time understanding because i see their lips speaking english, i hear english in the background, but there is portugese in the front. But other than this confusion, it was super great. There were tons of great talks that can help each one of us. 

"When we sincerely repent, our sins disappear without a trace." The most amazing thing that has ever happened in our history is this fact. Through Christ, we can progress. Without Christ, we would be lost. I love the opportunitiy that i have every day to share this doctorine. Doctorine so simple but so deep. We have the capability to obey every commandment that God gives us, It just depends on our desire. We need to want to obey. And when we dont obey, we have the opportunity to sincerely repent and continue on the path of eternal progression. 

Everyone have a great week! 

-Elder Nelson

9/26/16

The trasfer has happened and everyone arrived. My comanion, Elder Mercês is super cool. He draws really good. It seems like we will have a good time together. 

The church building is approved for october 7th and we are doing everything we can to prepare for this day. We are talking to several people on the road and inviting them to the open houses that we will have. When the new church building is ready, we will start english class again and we will start a drawing class. We are excited along with all the members for this experience. It will be amazing. 

I love the opportunity to share the gospel. Every chance we have, we should share the thing that to us is so special. 

Everyone have a great week!

-Elder Nelson

9/19/16

Transfers! My companion, Elder Freire, ended his misson. I will recieve a new companion, Elder Merces. It looks like i will stay here in Dourados a little bit longer. Its crazy here with eveyone leaving and arriving but we are all excited, it should be a good transfer. 

This week was interesting, it seemed like everyone got sick, we had to go to the hospital a few times and this week was just full of adventure. But it was good. We are enjoying the political excitement that is happening. Everyone that is running for something has little cards that that they give to everyone. We are collecting like pokemon. 

The members are getting excited here because October 7th, the church building will be dedicated. So after several years in a rented house will finally come to an end. The new church building is super pretty and everyone in the city is seeing it. Everyone is getting ready to invite their friends. So we will have a lot of work to do this upcoming month, it should be great. 

I am learning that no work is in vain. The Lord will do His work one way or the other, but how great it is if we are on His side doing our best too. 

Everyone have a great week!

-Elder Nelson

9/12/16

This week we did splits in my old area, Maracaju. We went there to do some baptismal interviews with some investigators that are preparing for baptism. It was good seeing Maracaju again along with a lot of the people there. I did a split with my old companion, Elder Craig, and we did a lot of street contacts and lessons with new investigators. At one hour, all of our plans had fell through and we didn't know what to do. Just then two of our old investigatos, whom Elder Craig and his companion had lost contact with, showed up in their car. They stumbled out of their car to greet me. It was super awesome to see them again. We met them through the english class that we set up. We were able to meet with them and teach them about the Book of Mormon. They also gave us a ride back to Dourados the next day. Its a super crazy thing that happened but awesome how the Lord works. 

It was sad to see one of our investigators not accept our invite this week. We taught him about the restoration and the Book of Mormon. We taught him about how Christ established the perfect church but after His death and the deaths of His apostles, His church was lost. We taught him how all the things, lost and confused, were restored through a modern day prophet. We taught him how he could know all these things for himself. And he simply said that if he would go to a church, he will go to the church where his mom goes... Its pretty sad to see all our effort these past few visits turn out like this. But whats important is now is that he knows.

We are learning a lot through the process of increasing our efforts in the people we talk to, the people we teach, and the people we invite. This way we are able to find those that are ready. Ready for an eternity of happiness without end. 

Everyone have an amazing week! 

-Elder Nelson

9/5/16

We traveled to Ponta Porã for a mission conference this week. We had a lot of trainings and it was a great experience. We learned a lot about teaching and how we can improve our teaching to see better results. We also learned a lot about agency. Free agency doesnt excist. Agency leads to freedom or captivity, depending if we choose good our bad. We have our agency and others have theirs. These things make up our daily life. 

We also had an activity this week. The name of the activity was master chef. All the members brought a food and we had a competition. The visitors were the judges. Its was super fun and there was some foods that were delicious. We are excited to see everyone get excited with the activities that we are doing. There are going to be some great things that happen here.

Happy Labor day to everyone!

-Elder Nelson