December 28th, 2009

Hey family! hows it going! i am doing great it was great to talk to you guys. it sounds like you are having fun at the cabin. i cant believe jessie typed up the conversation and put it on the web. thats way cool, i am so happy, and greatfull, she has been doing stuff like that. i will try and help out more by sending more pictures and writing a little bit more, the only bad part is i forgot my camera, so i will have to wait till next time to start, lol sorry, not off to a good start. i have some good pictures of the temple and christmas and the house here in independencia that i want to send. today i just got back from playing soccer. we play sometimes 3 times a week in the morning very early so we can get back for studies. its tons of fun my comp elder fuller is great, be for the mission he was semi-pro. la verdad! he has been on the mission for a year and a half so he is not as good as he was but, still he is better than most latins that we play and thats saying something. i got to say it has been hard this last transfer with elder fuller, he had a terrible comp the last two transfers and the doctors say it gave him depression, im not kidding. but we are working on it and i almost got him back to his old self i think. it was great today, because it was the first time in a while that he really wanted to go play soccer, which is a great change. it have been a great challenge for me because i am still kind of new and and i have had to lead a lot. but we are working hard the the lord has blessed us. just the other day we got a reference of a man who is very ready to recieve the gosple. but all is well and i have learned some great lessons. i am doing great and i love it here. thanks for all the love and support. i have learned that as we do all we can and are exactly obedient, we may still experience disapointments but we will not be disapointed in ourself. (PME creo) it was great to here from chad and breanna! and jessie and kevin i receive letters from them alot, thanks so much for the letters and emails it means alot, and sorry that i never write back, i will try and do so in the future.

Love,
Elder Nelson

P.S. chad what in the world is proactive lol, and sorry for the car, but.........not my problem. jk lol just be thankful you have a car.

December 25th, 2009

Elder Nelson called Dad's cell phone (while the family was at the cabin) right at 9:00 Christmas morning. Dad put the phone on speaker and mom called Kevin and Jessie on her cell phone. Kevin and Jessie were able to hear everything he said. He had 40 minutes to talk, we talked for 39 min. 40 sec. Here are the notes we took from Elder Nelson’s phone call!

He is in the Northern part of Santiago, next to Mexico avenue, in the center, looking at a map. Mission is one of the most strict, but because of that he feels that is very spiritual. Learned that there are a lot of missionaries that are not following the rules, but if you don’t follow the rules, you won’t have the spirit. It is really easy to break the rules unintentionally. One time, we got to bed a few minutes late, we felt like we really needed to pray for forgiveness. Even though it was not a big thing, we felt like it made a difference and helps us have success.

He sounds great! He has a Chilean accent already. He has a hard time remembering English because they use Spanish all the time. Like, when dad answered the phone, he couldn't think of how to say greetings in English.

Went to the temple the other day. It was awesome, interesting. I was used to going every week in the MTC, then now it has been a while. It was during Christmas time, we told our converts that a year later we could go with them.

2 investigators right now are really strong, one may get baptized this week. Everyone is going every which way during Christmas, so it’s hard to keep track of everyone during the holidays.

Christmas day is like a p-day, three hours to work, then we get to go to families for Christmas, we get to stay out til 12:00am. That’s awesome. Here they celebrate Christmas on the 24^th, they celebrate at night, starting at midnight. Right now, there’s no one in the street, because they are all sleeping. At 12:00am, they have dinner and are up until 3-4 in the morning. We went to the mission home. We had a play of Christmas, all the missionaries were there. A lot of missionaries I knew from the MTC were there.

He loved the Christmas presents he got. He got a box from his boss from work.

I feel bad I haven’t written a lot of letters. Dad says, I hope you are writing more in your journal because you are not telling us a lot about your mission. Tyler says, It’s hard to write. I’m not writing as often as I need to. In the night, is the only time to write.

Usually don’t eat breakfast, then we have a huge lunch at 2.

We can’t say no if we are given food, they get really offended. But we try not to eat. Mission rules are you can’t buy anything, or be spending time in a store, after 6 because that is a prime time for proselyting. After a day's work, if you want to eat, the only time you can is between 10:30-11:30pm. There’s not a lot of time.. that's what it is hard to write in my journal. You have to choose to either eat or journal.

Most missions you wake up at 6:30, leave house at 9:00-9:30. But in our mission, we get up at 7:30 and don’t go to bed at 11:30.

Right now, it is 1:05pm (Arizona time is 9:05).

There is a couple of people here from Arizona, so I can ask them questions, like what time it will be at home.

You can’t find Dr. Pepper anywhere (in response to a question from Bean). There is only one store which Walmart bought, it’s called Lotos. This is one of the only places you can find American items because Walmart bought it. The only thing ppl drink here is Coke. I didn’t drink it (Coke) at all at the MTC. They also have this juice thing, everyone has them here (Jugo).

When I was in Butuco, I ate Chicken Hearts and the thing that’s on a Turkey... the Gobbler. The only thing I don’t really like here is beans. They have something that is like a bean soup, that’s the only thing I really don’t like. I eat a lot of rice and meat. They have a lot of fruit here. It is better than the states. It is really fresh.

Here we are walking a lot. A lot of members give us food. There is something like a fruit cake (Pandepascua), we eat it all the time. It is like sweet bread.

In this sector, it is not that bad (poor). In my last area, it was.

Do you do a lot of tracking? What does your day look like? A lot of tracking, a lot of inactive members, some of the best investigators we get are through the inactive families. We work a lot through the inactive members. We are trying to gain the trust of the members in the area. We can’t just waste time at the members’ houses. We are working on gaining their trust.

In Spanish- This is the true church. We can become closer to Heavenly Father if we follow His principles. This is the way to find true happiness and peace. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. Through Him we can live and we can be with our families forever... We can find happiness in this life and in the life after...

Once you’re done with your mission, your parents can come pick you up. Now it is like the hottest time for us(not compared to AZ though). In about a month, will be the hottest. High 80’s right now. January is the hottest.

What is a cool experience you have had? – It is really interesting. I have noticed when we talk to ppl on the streets, you’ll be sharing the gospel. All the sudden, they’ll start crying. Then, they’ll start talking about their problems. “I smoke, I drink, I need help. Can you help me?” It is incredible. The spirit works on ppl in incredible ways. It is interesting, you’ll talk to them, then you’ll try to set an appointment. Sometimes you never get a chance to come back later, but I know that they felt the spirit in that moment. It is really interesting, in my last sector, one of the investigators, actually 2, tried to kill themselves. One was fed up with life. Really sad stories. I don’t want to go into details. I love these people. It is always really sad. It is amazing because you are able to help them. I didn’t baptize. I think my companion will get to baptize some of them. But, I helped find them. It is incredible, the change you can see and bring into ppl’s lives. I can’t think of really cool experiences right now.

The biggest change in me? Lately it has been really interesting to witness the changes in myself that I’ve had. A huge change. At first, when I was going to go serve a mission. I didn’t understand what I was getting into. It is the purifying fire. Everyday you work on purifying your heart to receive and teach with the spirit. Forgetting yourself and thinking of the ppl you are serving.

In Butuco, we could use the internet, it was nice to send pictures. But here, we don’t really have anywhere we can send pictures. So, I don’t know. I might end up not being able to send some for a while.

Thank you for your support. It means a lot.

Dad- you have a lot of people pulling for you.

I love you guys. Thanks for everything, for your support. It has been great. I am happy. I am happy to be here. I don’t want to be anywhere else. I’ll talk to you Mother’s Day!

He sounds like he is doing really, really well. We were really happy to talk to him. Merry Christmas! The Church is true! :)

December 24th, 2009

We were expecting Elder Nelson to call on the 24th, between 9-1:00 AZ time. The family even left half a day early to rush up to the cabin so that they would be in service when he called. Right as they got to the cabin, Mom got this email... So, instead he'll be calling Christmas day! We found out later that in Chile, they celebrate Christmas starting the 24th (at midnight- the first hour of the 25th).

ok i hope that you guys get this. i made a mistake in my last email, i am going to call on the 25, tomorrow, we are going to use these little cards that we have so i hope that it all works out, if not i will talk to you next year!! :) just kidding, it has been crazy lately with the navidad, we had a big activity at the mission home with like half the missioneries in our mission. the work is hard and i have hit a difficult time in the mission, with the new comp, because he has minor depression. but he is a great missionary and i learn tons every day, its just..... difficult. pero voy a seguir adelante. ( i will keep moving forward). i love you all and hope you all have a fantastic christmas morning. and i will talk to you tomorrow if all works out. and i hope you are not freeking out thinking that i am going to call today. chow chow, les quiero muchisimo. (i now the spelling is bad in español also) lol
Love,
Elder Nelson

December 21, 2009

Elder Nelson is doing great! We got an email from him saying that he would be calling home on Christmas Eve. We look forward to talking to him. Do you have any questions for him?

Thank you for your support and love for Elder Nelson.

Merry Christmas!

December 14th, 2009

Hows it going? it sounds like you all are having a great time. i am have the greatest time of my life, i learn so much everyday its crazy. my new comps name is Elder Fuller from Utah, and my new area is in downtown santiago. it is not the worst area poor wise, in batuco my last sector the people live off of nothing. but its a lot more faster here. i like my new comp. he is different so, it takes some getting used to but he has a lot of experience and is super spiritual and we are going to have a lot of success together. by the way i get to call you on the 25. i am going to try and call between 2 and 2:30 in the afternoon, arizona time( the only problem is i cant remember if we are two hours ahead or what.but i am going to ask someone from arizona tomorrow) anyway i can call for 40 and am going to call from a pay phone with a calling card i think. also our next pday (the day that i can email you) in going to be on the next jueves, because of the holiday. but i am very excited for the navidad because a lot more people turn there hearts twords christ at this time of the year. we get to go to the temple also in the next two weeks its going to be wonderfull to have the opportunity. the mission is doing things for the navidad tambien, como vamos a tener una fiesta o algo como así en la casa de mision, con comida y misionaros van a cantar y todo, será bakan. :) just kidding i will write in english, but it is getting harder and harder to think in english, which is a good thing. it means the spanish is coming along, but a still have much to learn. well i will talk to you next week, i might beable to write on monday also really quick in order to verify for the call but im not sure. well love you all and have a great week, ( chad you are huge, but i can still beat you up)
Love,
Elder Tyler David Nelson

December 7th, 2009

(Elder Nelson was caught wearing one of the shirts he was sent in his Christmas Package... He is wearing it in the picture in the last post. The Arizona shirt. That is what this first response it about..)

ok i admit it i opened that one. but i didnt open them all, a promise. :) i love the shirt! it was great to have something that says arizona on it, i just needed a shirt to wire. and you wrote on the packing slip what was in the box so i knew there was a shirt. but i am sorry. anyway its been kind of crazy because, today i am transfering! i am transfering into santiago, and elder Ojeda is staying here in batuco. my new area is called independencia or something like that, and my new comps name is Elder fuler, i think thats how you spell it. its kind of sad to leave a sector, expecially your first sector, and your first comp. but im needed elsewhere. it will be weird to leave the country and go into the city. also im so used to bikes that my feet are going to kill me. i hope dads calling is going well. first i will try and answer your question. being on a mission is great and during christmas time its even better. sure there is a little bit of homesickness but that just makes you work all the harder to lose yourself in the work. but the greatest thing is being able to share the greatest gift that we have with others. and that is the savior and his great atoning sacrifice. a gift greater than all worldly possessions. as missionaries its a great blessing to be able to share this message with the world. we dont have to take thought in what we want for christmas or the obtaining of material things. i really want to write more but i have to go and meet my new comp, felipe is taking us in his hippy van, !lo será henial! i love you all and thank you for your support, i am hoping i will have more time to write later but is not sorry dad that i didnt get to respond, it was great to hear from you, hopefully i will talk to you next week.

To Dad:

Sup, dad! hows it going it was great to hear from you, its been a while.
but dont worry about i know how busy you are. the cabin sounds like it
is coming along great. i cant wait to see it, or better yet receive it
for my inheritence! just kidding(sort of):). the mission is going great!
and i am really injoying every second of it. it has been great to be out
in the country for to transfers, but now i am in almost the heart of
santiago, were all the gansters are. should be fun. im kind of embarrassed
because i dont really have any awesome stories to share. we did find
this one lady, eva is her name, we were out knocking doors and it was
about 9:50 and we had to start heading back home, but we decided to
knock one last door, and we found her. at first she wasnt interested but
as we started talking about our message she started crying. and as a
missionary this can be a good thing, she really opened up and told us
that her husband just died and she had a lot of pain in her heart. so we
switched grears to the plan of salvation and gave her something to read.
she said she would stay up all night reading it. we came back the next
day and found her completly perpared to receive the gospel. we taught
her every day for 3 days and then she went to church on sunday for the
whole thing. unfortionally i got transfered the next day, but i have no
dout that she will be baptized and my comp that stayed in the sector
will keep me posted. it just goes to show that the lord is preparing
people for the gospel and we just need to find them and invite them to
christ. well thats my story there is another part to it also but it will
take to long to expain, it is enough to say that the lord used us to
possible save her life and trying to end it prematurely, i think we were
there at the right time. i hope that work doesnt stress you out to much
and that all is well, stay healthy and young. we still have to do many
things when i get back. love you! and thank you for every thing you do
for me and our family.
Tyler

To Mom (in response to a few questions she asked...):

we help people find the true meaning of christmas, but in this time of the year peoples hearts tend to be more soft and reseptive to the spirit. if you have a friend or family member that is not a member of the church now is as good a time as ever to invite them to enjoy the same blessing that we enjoy everyday. well i hope that is what you wanted, sorry i dont have much more to say and you dont have to use it is you dont want to, believe me it wont hurt my feelings. love you talk to you later.

November 30, 2009

Happy thanksgiving!!!!!!!! greetings from Chilie. it is interesting being in a country that doesnt know what thanksgiving is. but on saturday i had a thanksgiving dinner!!!! there is a family in our branch that is from utah! for real! no joke. bueno i think that told you about them before. the father is from utah and doesnt know a word of spanish and has lived here in batuco for 3 years. dont ask me how he accompished that. but is wife is from chile and she knows english and they moved here for her. anyway they invited us over for thanksgiving on saturday. it is a tradition of theirs and they invite all there family here in chile over it was alot of fun and we had american food with a turkey and everything, and cheese cake! was great stuff, not as good as your thanksgiving of course but better than nothing. im feeling great and everything is going great, i hope your cold is getting better. by the way i havent heard from stevan or nick but its my fault because i havent writen them. i need to, but to tell the truth if its not email im really bad at writing, well im bad at writing email also but thats besides the point.:) also i will think about what to write for the christmas thing you asked me for. i will try to send it next week but remind me in the next email just in case. the investigatores are doing a lot better. we are working right now with un hermano se llama Eleazar, he is a jehovas witness. but the other day he read and prayed and says that he thinks the book of mormon is true, he also went to church yesterday. but he is having a hard time letting go of his religion, understandably( spelling is the worst thing you have ever seen, i know) lol , but we are working with him and i have high hopes.
and there pictures!!!!
1. last Pday bike ride
1b. bike ride
2. Thanksgiving!!!!
3. last conference im happy i promise

November 23, 2009

Hey everyone! hows it going? i hope you are having a great thanksgiving week. this is my first thanksgiving away with out family, kind of strange. because its and american holiday they dont celebrate it here, but this is this family in our ward that used to live in Utah and the husband is american and actually doesnt speek a word of spanish which is interesting because they have lived here for 3 years, anyway we are going to try and spend it with them. which will be fun. i have to go but i am going to get back on in a bit latter today hopefully so talk to you later.
Tyler


Hello again. this week has been a crazy one i have been sick (with what i do not know) for the better part of the week. we also had a district conference and interviews with Pres. May this week. but it was great and i learned alot. i am dead tired from working all week and being sick but i am just happy i was blessed with the strength to be able to work everyday with a fever and everything. i think i really saw the lords hand in the work this past week. i hope everything is going good this week, it sounds like you all had a great weekend and very busy. Chad congrats with the eagle, you are officially in the club now, that is a great accomplishment and i am very proud of you. bre i hope you injoyed new moon or whatever its called, i do miss going to movies with you, i hope you are keeping track of all the cool movies that are coming out, and making a list of movies i can watch when i get back. by the way i love the calender i will hang it up on the first for sure, but you did a great job on it and it makes me feel at home. but like i said this last week has been crazy , and we have had crazy problems with our investigators, two of them tried to kill themselves this past week. i am just so thankful that we were there to help them put through it. we are most definitely in the right place at the right time. the lord knows what he is doing. well i know you had more questions but i really cant remember them, so sorry. i hope the cabin is going well dad i cant wait to see it, in fact i was wondering if you could send me pictures of it and other things as well, not just the cabin. but i was hoping to be able to show the people here a little more of my life back home, the house, more of the family, other things like that. but you can just send them by email and i can put them on the flash drive and print them out the next time i go into town. that would be awesome. well thank you so much and a love you all! talk to you next week!
Elder Tyler Nelson

November 16th, 2009

I got your package!! thank you so much i cant wait for christmas( i might not be able to). lol about the service im not really sure because we have a mission rule where we are not supposed to ask our family to donate down here or things like that so im not sure if it will work, sorry. i actually am pretty sick right now, im not sure with what. im glad that bre and chad are doing alright, i think about them alot and pray about them alot, maybe more than i should. jk im focused on the work i promise, but it is nice to know otherwise i worry. well i hope you all are doing well and that dads health is good, i have been thinking about that a little to, make sure he is laying off the deserts! well i love you and will talk to you next week.
Elder Nelson

November 9, 2009: Letter and Pictures!

Hola! hows it going! we have had a great week. guess what, we went into santiago to the distribution center this week and i saw Elder Johanson? it was way cool to see him, and a once in a mill chance, because his mission is way far away. anyway i guess he doesnt have that much time left, about as much time left as i have here in chile, but he is doing great!we have this family that we are teaching, part member, jimmy (18) inactive and his Wife(except they are not yet maried) Evelyin (17) and i little girl (2 or 3 years old) living in this crapy house, really bad living conditions, you would just die if you saw it mom. but the coolest little family. we have got them going to church and as soon as they get married she is getting baptised, but she cant untill she turns 18 in feb, because she doesnt have her parents permision. probably some of my favorite people here in chile. we have been teaching them alot about eternal families and the templo. and evelyn has the stongest desire to go and get sealed with her family there. it has been so cool to watch. it has made me really greatful for my parents and the love that they have for each other, and for the knoweledge that our family will last though the eternities. well i love you and hope you have a great week, by the way i have the card and i dont know how to activate it, do you do it there or do i need to do something?
Elder Nelson

These pictures are of Elder Nelson and his companion with the couple they are living with. They took them out for a BBQ on their P-Day.

Pictures

our neighbers who took us to TGI Fridays( we spend most Pdays with them, very cool people)
my roommates and a few others at the mtc in our room on the last day.

ward members at the baptism. son locos!

me with a chile hat ( they all have these there)
with my first district
the house
the bathroom
an investigator family that we are teaching, only the mom is a member, they have three other daughters and a son as well.
a lake on the one side of batuco, we run there in the mornings sometimes. beautiful area.(great for duck hunting!)jk
transportation chile style! bakan!(cool)
me and my comp at tgi fridays

November 2, 2009

Hey Family hows it going! it sounds like you have a fun week. my week was great. and i am supper excited to be able to stay in this area and work with the same comp. it was a lot of fun this week because i had this traning thing at the mission home, for all the people in my group that came in on the same day. it was awesome to be able to see the people from my district that i came here with, and to see my comp from the MTC. anyway bree i got you email, and i loved hearing from you and hope you are doing great, i think about you and chad alot, when i see our investigators the same age, and am so so grateful that we grew up in the gospel and have this opportunity, lifes tough but stay strong and perserverar hasta el fin or endure to the end and i just want you to know that i know that this is the only way to find true lasting happiness. sorry went of on a tangent, didnt mean to get all preachy, but well... thats my life. halloween was interesting. i think most people here use it as an opportunity to get drunk, but they do, do that whole trick or treating thing its just not as big as in the states. the kid that got baptized last week, his name is Abraham, and is full of energy. kind of crazy actually. he has a bro and sister who are members but only the sister is active. we are working with his mom and other sister right now who would get baptized if they would get married, but they wont because they say it causes to many problems, which is really the other way around, pero no sé. its a cool story with Abraham though, well kind of sad also. but the mom and a little girl that lives there, on saturday night before the baptism there was a big gang fight outside their house ( that the one inactive bro. was a part of) and the little girl ran out into it to get to the brother of abraham, so the mom ran out to get her and got hit with a glass bottle and a piece hit the girl as well, the moms eye was messed up pretty bad, anyway long story short, she will be fine some scars is all, but when we went to go pick up abraham on sunday morning we found out about all this and said that we could do the baptism another day, because the mom was going to go into santiago to go to the doctors, but the whole family realized the importance of it and wanted him to go get baptized that day, and made arangements for it to work out, i am really greatfull for that family and the faith that they have. well the weather is getting hot now but i heard in the area i am in it will get a lot hotter, reminds me of home.
i would also like to say thanks to jessie and kevin for their letters, i got them all this last tuesday,and it was great to have them, and read them on the bus ride home. well have a great week and i love you all!
Elder Tyler Nelson
(never a bad day!)

October 26, 2009

Hi family! thank you for the letters! i am really really sorry but i am going to have to cut this really short i have been having some problems with myldsmail and it deleted the email i sent to you (a really long one i swear) and the one i sent to dad. thank you some much for your emails and for the package i did get it this last tuesday! this week has been great, one of the best i have had. we had a baptism this sunday my first! and i got the opportunity to be the one to baptize, it was a great experience. well i love you all and am really sorry i dont have time to write more but i am going to try and send some photos also. by the way i am staying in batuco with the same comp.
Elder Tyler Nelson

October 19, 2009

Hi! Hows it going ! it has been a great week! first of all i want to say happy birthday to Dad, so HAPPY BIRTHDAY! i got you something but you will have to wait a little while because im not sure how to send it yet. but you will get it sometime, it just may be in two years. Sorry for that, but i am thinking of you. i dont know where my graduation thing is sorry, i thought it was in my closet somewere. i didnt get your package yet, but i get them on tuesday along with the dearelders and letters so if it came this past week then i will get them tomorrow. the most difficult thing for me right now is the spanish, but i am learning more and more everyday. i wish i was able to say everything that i wanted to say but thats ok because the spirit is what teaches not me. we have a posibility for a baptism this next sunday, so i am supper excited about it, just to be here, even though i dont understand much and cant say much, just to see the gospel change peoples lives is a great blessing. today on our pday we got the opportunity to go to TGI Fridays with a member, felipe and his wife, they are the ones that we are renting part of their house from. it was great to be able to have some american food! even though they ¿chileainised? it, so it was very different. it was nice to have something that doesnt have avacado on it, because they put it on everything here. they drove us into santiago to the rich part where they have all the american stores and restaurants, we were going to go bowling also but we didnt have time. we actually transfer every six weeks, so this week could be my last week in batuco, but i really hope i stay here for another transfer, because i like the country and the people here. but i will go were i need to go and do what i need to do. we got to speak in church this last week, the whole meeting just me and my comp. very interesting. i spoke on the atonement which is a very dear subject to me, and i was hoping for the spirit to make up for my bad spanish. let bre know that she can email me if she wants also, the pres. lets us email anyone we want, we just have to email him first, our family next, then whoever else. but not important, i love getting letters as well. well i think that thats all, the work is going forward with all speed here and i am super excited to be a part of it. Love you all and will try to send you pictures next week. ¡hasta luego!
(Your Favorite son on a mission)Elder Tyler (and Two names i try and wear with honor)David Nelson

October 12, 2009

Hola! Como Esta! i didnt get the package lo siento, i will try and send pictures next week. i might get it tomorrow because i get all the letters and packages on tuesday of everyweek. well everything is going great here, me and my comp are getting to know each other here, i lost 13 POUNDS which is crazy(since the MTC). which is way cool. we have some great investigators that we are teaching. we have two that if they would just get married then they would get baptized, we are working on it. we had our mission conference and interviews this week, which was great i am always happy to see President May and Sister May. im glad that you had fun on your califonia trip, i have always wanted to go to six flags. i hope the Jones are doing great! and nick also. also i was wondering if you could get me grandma and grandpas email (both nelson and sheldon) that would be great. writing letters is a little difficult because we have to go into colina or santiago to mail them, and Grandma and Grandpa wrote me and i would love to write them back. anyway if you read this thank you so much for your letter it was great to hear about your hikes and tripes. i also got your dearelder mom, about the roosevelt trip this past tuesday, i loved getting that letter also thank you so much. anyway the people here are great, i really love it here and would not want to be anywere else. we have talked to some great people and had some very interesting contactos. but my favorit part is seeing peoples faces change when you share the message of the restored gospel with them. here there are alot of churches that remind me of the baptist church. they have local bands that play and get kind of crazy, for example in the park on sunday there was this band playing and a guy up there yelling HE LIVES! over and over(very interesting) all night. it is quite a difference and it just sucks the spirit right out of the atmosphere. their reaction was funny though when we walked right past them. but i understand more and more spanish everyweek, but it is still difficult, it is getting better, much better. President May gave me some great advice and it has really helped me learning the language. i had Elder Ojeda email me some pictures from conference that i am going to try and send to you, i might just end up just forwarding it to you. anyway it is of me and my comp and some of our zone, but not all, and one random person that just happened to be there,and then the other pic is of two sisters in our zone who we got the pic from, so enjoy. well have a great week hopefully i will get that package by the way i did send the camera type to dad, anyway not important. love you! talk to you next week.
Elder Tyler Nelson

October 5, 2009

Hola! hows it going! Conference was great! my favorite was Elder Holland about the book of mormon. it was one of the most powerful talks that i have ever heard. well now to start on the questions. well it is still kind of cold here but it is starting to warm up. which is great because the people here dont know what insilation is. i wish i could send you some pictures of the place. we have bikes which is cool, you only get them if you are out in the country side. it takes us like 45 mins. to get into santiago, but i feel like it is a long ways away. i feel settled in for the most part, the food is good here when we eat with the members, we have a member that does our laundry which is great. conference was fantastic, i have never gotten so much out of it before, i felt like they talked alot about charity or love which is cool because that is the focus this cambia for us. that idea for christmas is great i really do want a jersey. today for pday we played football with my zone. it was a lot of fun, there were only 3 white people there the rest were latinos and are way good. it was great to hear about the game i hope hamilton does well this year and doesnt blow it later on like they did my senior year. i can listen to any hymns and i was wondering if you could send me if its not to expensive a cd player and some small speakers, with some mormon tab. if it is to expensive then please dont and i will try and get it here. i dont want you to have to spend too much money. for the most part i have enough for what i need, i did take out some money (80 i think) because i am supposed to have some for emergences. and i wanted some out incase i wanted something like a shirt or something. but im trying to not spend any money of my own. we live in the house of this member family who is building this big house right next to us. we use part of their old house. its nice and not in to bad of shape( the bathroom is interesting, the shower didnt really work but we are working on it). well not much left to tell. we are teaching a few great people right now, im still searching for that first baptism, we have one getting close and 2 that if they would just get married they would be baptized. the members are great, we rented a bus to take us to colina for the conference with all the members we had 2 investigators come with us on sunday, which is super bueno! well i hope i got to all your questions sorry if i missed any. love you all talk to you next week!

September 28, 2009

Hey! hows it going? i was sorry to hear about your knee, i hope it gets better. i have been doing great! it is a lot of fun being out here. i want to send you some pictures but i dont have a usb cord for my camera, so im not sure how im going to do it. i hope you got my email form last week, they said there were some problems with the email i might send it again just in case. anyway church was great this week we had like 39 people come instead of 29, so it was on the upswing. we have one investagator there which was great. we have to good investigators right now, Abrahm and Rosa. on pdays i havent done much sight seeing because we are so far outside of santiago. i dont know if i told you but we are in this little town called batuco. the little branch here is small but i plan on making it grow, we still do a lot of reactivation with the inactives. i wanted to thank grandma and grandpa for the letters. it was great to hear from them, and am glad to hear they are doing well. it is still hard to understand the people here but i am starting to pick it up better. they speak very fast and do not pronounce the s at the end of words, and have a lot of slang. the food is good i am getting used to it. we ate with a member, but it got to expensive so we cant eat with her any more. but we found someone else to go to that will do it for free. because we are so far outside of santiago the food is more expensive. we have also had to go into santiago everyday this past week because my comp Elder Ojeda has had some medical problems with his skin, and that gets expensive also. but thats alright because i have gotten to see some of the city as well. it has been very cold here especially at night, and it rained last nnight, but i am trying to enjoy it because i hear it getts very hot here in the summer. they have this thing here called empanadas which are really good, but i eat a lot of beans and rice. the people in my area are very poor, actually the santiago North mission is the poorest mission in santiago. but thats ok because humble people are more receptive to the gospel. by the way it takes like ten to 15 days for letters and packages to get here. i hope the Dentons and the Bloomquists are doing well, the boat trip sounded very eventful. well i dont have much else, i will try to send the email from last week as well just in case you didnt get it.love you all and will talk to you next monday.
Love,Elder Tyler Nelson

September 23, 2009

September 23, 2009

Dear Nelson Family,

It was a great pleasure to welcome your son to our mission. He arrived in good health, is enthusiastic, and anxious to begin missionary work here in the Chile Santiago North mission. I have interviewed him carefully and find him well prepared, with a strong testimony, and a good beginning foundation in the Spanish language. I feel honored to be his mission president and know that the Lord has prepared many people here to receive the testimony of the restoration he bears. Sister May and I will treat him as our own son.

Your son will look forward to your weekly letters of encouragement and support. E-mail is a great way to communicate with him as he communicates with me by e-mail weekly as well. If you prefer to send letters, the church pouch system is the safest method. The pouch mail comes several times per month and is delivered to the mission office, where we either carry it ourselves, or send it with missionaries to your son, as soon as possible. You can also send letters and packages directly to the mission office. The address of our mission office is as follows.

Misión Chile Santiago

NorteForestal 2680,

Oficina 32 Cajita 18

Conchalí, Santiago

Chile

Thank you for all you have done to prepare your son for him mission. Sister May and I will do everything in our power to help him have a wonderful and productive mission.

Sincerely yours,

Michael E. May
President, Chile Santiago North Mission
Michael.May@ldschurch.org

September 21, 2009

HI!! hows it going. well i made it! i guess you didnt get that first email that i send on the day that i got here. it is crazy here. i am in this small town out side of Santiago called Batuco. my comps name is Elder Ojeda. he is from Utah but his dad is mexican. he knew spanish and english before he got here. he is great a hard worker a good teacher and a laid back guy. well i cant understand a word that is being said here but thats ok im getting better. the 18 of sept. is the chile independence day or something like that. so is has been crazy here. people here are all drunk and are always asking me for money because im white. the members here in the one ward in all of batuco are great except there are hardly any. on sunday there was only 28 people! there are alot of inactives. we spend a lot of time doing permaneced which is like reactivation. it is a program an chile that they made because of the problem they have with people falling way. well i dont have much time and a lot to tell you. as for letters and packages you send them to this address: Chile Santiago North Mission, 2680 forestal 32, conchali chile. i think it takes about 15 days or less and is safe for the most part. i actually need a few things if you dont mind; a nice jump rope; a usb cord for my camra( i cant send you pictures untill i get it, because i will send it on the comp) and then a list of birthdays, addresses, emails and anything like that. well i can email anyone that i want but i dont have much time so i will try and email more people next week. i got you emails and letters, thank you so much for them. i am sure i forgot something, but am out of time love you talk to later!
-Elder Tyler Nelson

ALso i need a usb drive if you could. that would be great! also ever second sunday i have to speak in my ward crazy!

September 12, 2009 - New Pictures!!

Jessie,
I thought I should send you what pics I have. Most are random. Some of the elder in my district are crazy. Anyway, I deleted most of the really silly ones. Mostly there are just pics with me and my teachers. The blonde one with the braces is my favorite. He has been a great example to me and I have learned the most from him. So I love you and thank you for your support! I'm writing this on Saturday as we are packing for Monday. It's kind of like another P-Day. You will most likely get this way after I talk to you on the phone on Monday.

Love, Elder Tyler Nelson


Playing? Cleaning?? Something???

District Pic

Teachers:

Life in the MTC:

Provo, UT Temple

Elders Gibson and Nelson

Packing up- getting ready to leave for Chile: