Monday, January 31, 2011
Familia Caiza!!
Juaquin and Maria Caiza were baptized and confirmed this weekend!!! Yay!! We are so excited for them! It was quite the ride getting them there.. After explaining 4 or 5 times that we are in fact not Evangelics, we finally got to talk to her sister in law who was telling her all this and we got everything cleared up and the sister and brother in law even came to the baptism! Hopefully we will get a chance to teach them too! They are such a cute little family and their 3 little kids are the cutest things ever! Especially the little girl! I wish we were allowed to hold babies! They are so cute! Anyway everything with their baptism went fairly well! It was so fun to see them in white! We are so happy for them! It`s funny watching your investigators be baptized because you feel like you had nothing to do with them getting there. Which is true- it``s all the Lord and the Spirit and their faith! So really I can`t take credit for anything! All you feel is happiness for them and it is so great! Days like that make everything worth it! So we had a specialized training with President Sloan this week and it was awesome of course! President is amazing! He talked a lot about faith and when our actions match our desires that is when we will see miracles! If we are going to talk the talk we have to walk the walk! It was just an awesome few hours of being taught by him! Their mission ends in June and then we will get a new President and I am kinda sad! I love the Sloans! But that`s okay we can go visit them when I get home! And there will be a new family to love! We also had interviews that day and he said its time I had a Latina companion! So I`m pretty sure I will be getting moved next transffers. I`m super sad because I love this area and the ward is amazing in helping with missionary work! But I am still holding out for getting put in a trio here! I just don`t feel ready to leave here yet. But whatever happens is for the best so it`s okay. Well I`m sorry this is kinda short.. But I hope everyone is doing well! Thank you for all the prayers, love and support! I couldn`t be here without you all! Love you!! xoxoxXo Love forever and always, Hermana Nelson
Monday, January 24, 2011
Woo Hoo!!!!
Hi family!! Guess what?!! Joaquin and Maria Caiza are getting baptized
this Saturday!!!! We are so so excited for them! We finally got them
and Veronica to church on Sunday! Technically they shouldn`t be
baptized until the 5th of Feburary but that weekend the stake is going
to the temple so we have permission for them to be baptized this
week!! YAY!!!!! They are the sweetest little family ever! They have 3
little kids, ages 6, 4, and 2. And they are so humble! The poor things
live in a tiny house if you can even call it that. It`s basically a
bed room. They have a stove a fridge a dresser and a bed crammed into
this little room and all 5 of them sleep in the same bed. It is so
heartbreaking and everytime we go over there I am so humbled and
grateful for everything that I have. She can`t read either so he reads
the scriptures to them and he loves the Book of Mormon! He totally
gets everything he reads and it is so great! And we were so happy to
have Veronica there too! We haven`t had a chance to talk to her and
see what she thought but I hope she could feel the Spirit there and I
hope she will make it to the waters too. She is just so adorable! And
we hike that stinking hill all the time for her so everything better
work out! haha But everytime her mom comes in to try and preach to us
Veronica just tells her to leave - in a semi nice way of course - and
it`s so nice not to have to deal with her! We haven`t seen Heidi in a
while because she has been out of town visiting her daughter. But
hopefully everything will workout with her too eventually! This week
we didn`t get a lot of work done because we were running to the
hospital because of the elder who had sugery on his appendix, we had
to bring food to his companion for a few days. And the mission doctor
was in town this week so we had to go to meetings and take him to meet
doctors and what not. But it was fun to see them again! They were at
the CCM and his wife was one of our Relief Society teachers. Their
names are Elder and Hermana Slingerland and they are the cutest little
things ever! They have a 32 year old son - Michael- with Down Syndrome
so we had lots of fun talking about him and Maddie! When I get home I
want us to go visit them cause you will just love them! Well life in
the mission is definately being blessed and I am so grateful for that!
The Lord answers prayers and blesses his children. Thank you for all
of the love and support! I couldn`t be here without it! I love you
all!! Have a great week!!! xoxoXo
Love forever and always,
Hermana Nelson
Monday, January 17, 2011
Woo Hoo!!!
Well I will start with the most exciting news of the week... I got to
wash my hands in hot water today!!!!!!!!!!! It was so so amazing! But
the story behind it is kinds sad.. So I am companions with the mission
nurse and there is an Elder who has been sick for the past week and
yesterday he got super bad so he got brought into Quito to one of the
hospitals and it turns our he has Appendicitis and had it removed
early this morning. So we went to visit him and while we were waiting
to be able to go in I went to the bathroom and the hot water actually
worked!!! WOW!! It was such a treat! The Elder is doing good though!
He should recover just fine! It`s pretty exciting to be companions
with the nurse! Every friday we have to go into the offices because
she as to chart all the phone calls and do other nurse stuff so I get
to go with and help! And one of the senior sisters brings us some kind
of homemade bread every friday and it is so yummy! My favorite is her
Mora (blackberry) bread! I`m gonna have to remember to get the recipe
from her! So yeah there are many perks and I am getting very spoiled
here in Quito. I`m sure my next transfer is going to be a rude
awakening! haha
Well this week has been good! We have been finding lots of great
people to teach and they are good about reading and are so excited
about the gospel but then comes Sunday...... Something always happens
on Sunday and no one can make it to church. We had a member go pick up
one of the famillies and when she got there the dad was drunk. And his
wife came out and was like we are Catholic and we don`t want to change
religions because we can`t dance or drink and we just don`t want to
keep the rules of your church. Yeah we were pretty sad and shocked
because this is our best family! They were building such strong
testimonies and reading and doing everything they were supposed to.
But we are going to see them tonight so we will see how it goes!
Veronica couldn´t come because her little girl was sick. She is still
unsure of which path to take because she is studying with the
Jehovah`s Witness` also, and I`m sure it doesn`t help that her Mother
is probably preaching to her all the time! That woman is so just loud
and preachy and it`s amazing the difference! When she comes in and
starts talking about her church the Spirit is just not there and it`s
so frustrating trying to teach with her there preaching at us! She is
working on getting us pamphlets in English so we can read and
understand about their church! Can`t wait!! haha We found Heidi last
week and she is so great! She is 20 years old and she has and 8 month
old baby who is the cutest thing ever! She also has a little girl who
is about 4 but she lives with the grandma because the guy Heidi is
living with doesn`t want the little girl to live with them because she
isn`t his. Yeah we have never met his but he sounds not very nice and
she knows he isn`t very good for her but she is just with him because
of the little boy. So we have to do something about that before she
can get baptized. But she reads all the time and loves learning about
the gospel so we are just praying something will work out to get her
away from the boyfriend.
Well Bubs your Eagle Project looks amazing! Of course with dad nothing
is done half way! I`m so proud of you for finishing!! You will be so
glad you did it!!
It sounds like life is just crazy at home but everyone sounds well and
healthy! I hope this year is starting out well for everyone! Thank you
for all the prayers and support! They are being heard! I love you
all!! xoxoxXo
Love forever and always,
Hermana Nelson
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Another Week In Quito!
Hi family!! How is everyone doing?? I hope all is well! Is it still
freezing? That is so wierd how cold it is! I´m sad I´m missing it! But
that´s okay! This week has been good! We are finding new families to
teach and they are all great! We had 6 people who were supposed to
come to church and none of them came.. So that was pretty frustrating
but oh well, what can you do? So the other day we had potato and pig
neck soup! Sounds yummy huh?? Yeah it was pretty gross. It looks like
slices of fat, but it´s not chewy like fat. It wasn´t terrible, I´m
sure I will be eating something worse someday but I would not be sad
if I never ate it again! Today we actually had time to have a P-day
with no interuptions so we went to the Basílica- a huge Catholic
church- and it was so cool! I felt like I was in National Tresure! The
architecture is amazing and we climbed up to the top and the view of
the city was so so cool! And then we went to eat at Crepes and Waffles
and mmmmmm it was yummy! I got a chicken broccoli and cheese crepe and
then we got ice cream in a waffle cone and it was delicious! They need
to open one in the states cause it is amazing! Well I´m sorry this is
super short, I don´t have a lot of time today but next week I will try
to write more! I love you all and once again thank you for everything
you do for me to be here and for all of the prayers! They are being
heard!! Love you! Happy Birthday Bubba and Chaylee!!!! xoxoXo
Love forever and always,
Hermana Nelson
Monday, January 3, 2011
¡Feliz Año Nuevo!
Hola everyone!! How were all the holiday celebrations? New Years is a bigger deal here than Christmas it seems like! It`s more like Halloween! New Year`s Eve all the men dress up like women (they are supposed to be widows dressed in all black but it`s more like drag queens) and stand in the streets asking for money. And they build these paper mache statues and make these dolls and put masks on them and burn them! And there are parties going on everywhere and parades and wow, they really get into it! And the next day no one was in the streets, it was so quiet! And the buses are full of drunk people coming home from the parties at 11 in the morning! So it was fun getting hit on by a bunch of drunk people! So we started contacting in the new area we found- Carmen Bajo and we found a lady who is so great! She is studying with the Jehovah`s Witness´ right now but when she was 10 her family was taking the missionary discussions from Elder Foster and his companion- 18 years later and they still remember his name! I think he left and they somehow got lost and were never baptized and now her mom is a hard core Jehovah`s Witness! Against our will, we have been getting the missionary lessons from her! Man can she preech! She is proabably about 4´ 8´´ but when she gets going she can be really intimidating! And then after she is done with her schpeal we teach her daughter! She is so sweet and really wants to know the truth so we are praying and praying that she will progress! There are lot`s of more people in this area that we still haven`t found but we know they are there! And Carmen Bajo is going to give me buns of steal whether I like it or not! Holy cow! I swear I am going to have to have knee surgery when I get home! The road to get there is a 90· angle no joke! Okay that`s not possible but it`s like a 75· angle. It is insane and it`s more than half a mile long! It is so crazy! You would think I am getting skinny because of it but not so. I don`t know what it is but we are ALWAYS hungry! I would be so disgusted with myself if I was at home! But food is our comfort I guess! Oh well I can lose it all when I get home! Not having to eat rice and drink soda (yuck!) all the stinking time will definately help! Changes were today but Hermana Rodgers and I are still together! I`m so glad because I have been back and forth back and forth and it`s nice to stay in one place for a while! And now I have time to hopefully help make a little difference here! I love it here in Quito! It`s so green and pretty and the mountains are unreal looking! Well I hope everyone`s New Year is starting off great and continues to be great! This next year is definately going to be full of learning and growing for me but it is going to be amazing! Everyday I am learning that I have to rely more and more on the Lord because I can not do this by myself! The mission always is compared to a sugar cane here. Bien duro pero dulce! ( it`s hard but sweet) I love you all! Thank you for all of your love and support!! xoxoxXo Love, forever and always, Hermana Nelson
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)