5/29/17 - Pictures of the Week

Elder Nielsen and Elder Tillman

Elder Nielsen loves the Peruvian food!

Marin's baptism with Elder Nielsen and Elder Chavez

Marin's baptism - again! Got it right- wahoo!

5/29/17 - Now That's What I Call Teamwork!

WOW what a week!!!! First and foremost, goooo Dahlia!!!! She leaves this week on her mission and she's going to be a fantastic missionary. Wish her well!!

We baptized Marin this week and it was crazy. To make a long story short we had his baptism on Saturday night and it was great. His testimony after his baptism was 10 minutes long but that's alright - he was just excited and he's long winded as it is. Well, we were writing in our journals that night and Elder Chavez started freaking out. It turns out we were missing one of his names on the registro so it wasn't correct. I really have no idea how he remembered and I even asked Marin at the baptism when we were practicing but it's okay. We got up early Sunday, ran to his house and we were like "again!!" We got there 10 minutes before sacrament meeting started and I conducted and this time Elder Chavez baptized him (I had baptized him the day before.) They hurried and changed and we made the sacrament and after the sacrament he was confirmed. Now that's what I call teamwork!! I'm never missing the sacrament again in my whole life. I BAPTIZED someone before church and made it. I can be on time. I'm really starting to learn the importance of the sacrarment in my own life. It's incredible! If you start reading your scriptures during it you will learn more during those 10 minutes than any other time - I sure do. We are so lucky to be able to partake of the sacrament. 

We were praying and praying to help us find people. We were walking and we just stopped and were like "where do you want to go?" We just started walking and turned left then right then left and ran into this little old lady. She's so funny.  Her name is Thomasa and she had a stroke and is so great. Her husband is a pastor but doesn't start a church because he knows it's going to just be another false one. I'm so excited for them!!

Probably my favorite investigator in my whole mission is una hermana Marina. She's blind and she's just so funny. She told us she's going to go live in the rain forest with her kids and she leaves tomorrow. Honestly, it hurt so bad- we wanted to get her baptized so bad but we just ran out of time. Please pray that the missionaries find her- she's wonderful. 

Please please pray for Cesar Preciado. He knows it's all true but he can't drop smoking. I know that through prayer we can solve this problem. I love you all!!!

Love,

Elder Nielsen

5/22/17 - Pics of The Week

"Wow. Lima is so green and lush! Hahaha Dirt. It really is getting prettier by the week tho."

Elder Chavez and a rooster used for fighting

Elder Nielsen and a rooster

5/22/17 - At Least 400 Cockroaches

This week was honestly so crazy. It all started as we left internet last Monday. We were talking and walking back to the house, planning the rest of the day, and I felt soooo strongly we needed to talk to this old man. His name is Pablo and he was like "sure come over in an hour." He lives in what looks like a junkyard - it's just garbage and dirty clothes and wood and I had to bend over inside and both my shoulders were touching the sides of the walls. We sat down and started teaching and the wall to my left appeared to be moving. The single light bulb didn't cast much light but as I looked more closely it turns out that it was crawling with at least 400 cockroaches. Yeah. I prayed so hard to keep my cool and yeah I did thankfully. Bugs don't bother me but it was unreal! hahahaha. He was being taught by missionaries over 20 years ago and he moved and lost contact with them. People would come to his house, like Jehovah's Witnesses and other churches and he would defend the Book of Mormon and kick them out of his house. He won't drink because he knows it's a commandment so he keeps loosing construction jobs. Yeah, it's like if you don't drink you aren't a brother so they fire you, but he says he can feel the love of God in his heart so it's alright. He is sooo excited to get baptized and he came to church and is doing just fantastic.

We are also teaching this cute blind grandma named Marlina. She is so funny and she has the sickest accent from the rain forest. She goes to church 5 times a week already and she's sad that we don't have more meetings but she came and she loved it - it was so cute. 

I weighed myself and I'm 88 kgs, When I got here I was 104 kgs, Oh Peru. 

All in all I'm doing great! Please please please pray for Cesar Preciado. He's having a really hard time stopping smoking but together we can! Also Marin has his baptism this Saturday. Please pray that no pasa nada. I love you all and I'm so excited for Dahlia -  if you know her she's leaving in 1 1/2 weeks for her mission and if you don't know her, well you're missing out! 

Love,

Elder Nielsen

5/15/17 - Pics of the Week

"Lima is soooo dusty!"

Elder Nielsen and an investigator

Elder Chavez, Investigator and Elder Nielsen

Mural paintings by Marin

5/15/17 - Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!!!! It was so fantastic talking to my family yesterday. Families really are the most important thing in the world. I am so grateful for my mom. She's so wonderful and her testimony has been the rock for many a wayward soul, including mine. I am so eternally grateful.

“The Name of Mother”

“The noblest thoughts my soul can claim.

The holiest words my tongue can frame,

Unworthy are to frame the name

More sacred than all other.

An infant when her love first came,

A man, I find it just the same:

Reverently I breathe her name—

The blessed name of mother.”

—George Griffith Fetter

This week was really excellent. We aren't having many people come to church so we decided to make moves and improve that. I love love love Elder Chavez because he wants to work and he is so fast to give ideas and support and help - he's awesome. We had 2 great families come to church this week and had 8 people in all, 1 more than our goal of 7!! I love setting goals and completing them. 

We taught a man named Elias, yeah like the prophet, about a month and a half back and he had the fire, however he had to work that Sunday and so on and so on until he stopped answering our calls and fell off the face of the earth. We passed by his house and called him but he didn't want anything to do with us and it hurt. We prayed for help, for the Lord to guide us and we ended up teaching him. He stayed for all 3 hours of church yesterday and is pumped to come back. He couldn't stop talking about how incredible and different the church is and he was giving out his number and helping plan the service project for the Elder's Quorum!!! I love this work and this gospel. 

All in all a great week and I LOVE YOU MOMMYYYYYY

Love,

Elder Nielsen

5/8/17 - The University of Life

Hey all,

Time is flying and it's honestly insane. I really don’t know how to even think about it. In no time it's going to be my birthday and then I complete 1 year. I'm not ready to even think about going home. I haven’t even gotten close to where I want to be spiritually, mentally, emotionally or physically. I've heard people all my life say the mission is the university of life and I'm starting to see that's true. It's hard, really hard but I'm changing every moment of every day for the better and I am forever grateful for this opportunity. I was talking to an investigator the other day about the strange thing that happens when you learn about Christ. You learn about Him and you want to be like Him, He is perfection in every way. However when you look inward and you see yourself and how farrrrrrrrrrr away you are and you strive and work and pray and learn and study and cry and do everything you can to be more like Him. In His infinite mercy and through his Infinite and Eternal atonement we CAN be more like Him. In the process of being more and more like Him we grow and have experiences and learn and feel real joy. Our respect for Him grows and our Love and appreciation grows too. Then we look inward again and it repeats. The mission is doing that because I stand all amazed at the love Jesus offers me. It makes me cry to think HE, being so perfect and all powerful and all knowing died for ME. ME. I love to read in John when Thomas sees Him because I know it wasn't a causal experience. Thomas threw himself at the Savior's feet and sobbed for forgiveness. I long for the day I can cry at my Savior's feet and thank him for dying for me and all my loved ones. 

We are reading the Book of Mormon as a mission and it's so wonderful. I'm in Alma 45 right now and I've learned SOOOO much. It's truly the word of God. Please please please please please please please read it. and pray to know if it is true, even if you are a member read and pray EVERY DAY and it will help your testimony. 

We had district meeting and had a break and a person had a cart selling avocados. We bought 3 kilos for 6 soles. hahahahaha We made guacamole and it was amazing. I love you all!!! ¡Gracias a Dios!

Elder Nielsen

5/1/17 - Pictures from the last 2 weeks

Elder Nielsen and his good friend, Elder Garcia

Elder Nielsen is so happy!

Elder Nielsen and friend

Elder Nielsen's district

The views from his apartnent

Baptism! Elder Nielsen and Alexander

5/1/17 - Just Like A Movie

I'M SORRY I couldn't write last week. Really though, it's not my fault. I logged in and it said, "I'm sorry you are not a full time missionary." I spent my entire internet time calling secretaries and assistants and nada. There was nothing I could do. The truth is I was told "there is nothing we can do- you will have to wait until next week because transfers are today!" It's a miracle I'm writing you all right now and I'm positive it's because I was praying for the ability to talk to you all.

The last 2 weeks were crazy. We have been teaching this 22 year old named Alexander. He is so funny and he loves us and we love him. We taught his mom the first lesson and after we left she took and hid his Book of Mormon. She tries to stop him from coming to church and talks so bad about us. However, it's the truth and he knows it so he comes anyways and a week ago last Saturday was his baptism - or it was supposed to be until we passed by at 6 to pick him up and he couldn't leave. Side note, robbery is a HUGE problem here in Peru - every single house has an industrial lock with 2 sliding bolts and all the windows are barred. Once the bolts are set it's impossible to open the door without the key. Anyway, we came to get him and he was stuck in his house. Yeah just like a movie. He couldn't leave and his mom was 2 houses away at his grandmas. We knocked on the grandma's and the grandma said we are of the devil and the grandpa was going to call the police... yeah so we left and the same exact thing happened the next day on Sunday. We were praying so hard to soften hearts and he was baptized yesterday!!!!!!! There is nothing like bringing someone into this gospel because it's truth and it changes lives!!!!!!!!!!

We are teaching this man named Nicolas Marin. He's legit insane but he's hilarious and wants to be baptized so vamos. He was a spiritualist, like talks with spirits, and he says he hears them all the time. We were teaching about the plan of salvation and when I was talking about the 3 kingdoms he zoned out and I was like dude are you okay? and he was like i just heard a voice that said "son this is your path, follow it!" hahahaha We passed by the next day and with a hand held electric saw he had carved a giant Jesus into a wooden door hahaha I love Peru so much. 

One of the foods of Peru is named tocosh. It's when they take a potato and stick it in the mud of a river and leave it there for a few months. It rots and turns into a squishy white paste and then they heat it up and serve it as soup. Yeah i had to eat it!!!! I was doing alright - until i smelled it and I almost threw up. I had to buy some clementines to calm down - it smelled so bad. Not kidding not joking it's HORRIBLE. but I did it and I don't regret it, memories baby!!!

All in all I'm doing great. I love our area and we have family Preciado and they are progressing excellently. They are having a lot of family problems but when they read the Book of Mormon and pray as a family it helps a ton. Yes it does!!! I love sharing with people how my family always reads the scriptures at night and talks and prays together. I'm so forever thankful for those times with them. Please pray for family Preciado and Nicolas and Jorge and Luisa. 

Love,

Elder Nielsen