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 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 24th, 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 (
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
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) lolLove,
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
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..)
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
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.
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