Bolivia, Paraiso—Week 4

Familia y amigos,

Primeramente, no puedo crear que rápido voló este semana. Siento como era ayer que estuve aqui escribiendo. 

Este semana fue muy bueno. Tuvimos un bautismo en sabado. Su nombre es “G” y estaba investigando la iglesa por mucho tiempo. Era un poquito como "Runaway Bride" porque tenia 3 diferentes fechas para bautizarse y cada vez no vino a su propio bautismo. Pero finalmente, este semana se bautizo! Yay! (fotos en Dropbox)

Y no habia mucho mas que paso. Estabamos en la Foianini con Hermana Judd porque estaba un poquito enferma, pero, tambien en Domingo fuimos a Charcas para visitar algunos familias.

Presidente Zambrano tiene muchos preocupaciones acerca de los barrios aqui y quiere que pueden ser mas fuertes, entonces nos mando en un mision para buscar referencias buenos de nuestras areas pasados y hablar acerca de otras ideas que tenemos en que podemos hacer para ayudar a crecer la iglesia aqui en Bolivia. Entonces, fuimos y podia ver algunos de las familas, estaba muy feliz para ver Samanta y su familia, y tambien la Familia Quezada. Ellos estaban hablando de mi todo el tiempo, y tambien tienen mis fotos, y los que ustedes mandaron en su casa. Extrano ellos mucho, pero van a ser amigos para siempre. 

Los quiero un monton! Espero que pueden leer eso.... jaja si no, puede preguntar Logan. espero que el no ha olvidado su espanol. 

que tengan una muy buena semana

xoxo Hermana Nelson

Translation:

Family and friends, 

First, I cannot believe how fast this week flew by. I feel like it was yesterday that I was here writing.

This week was very good. We had a baptism on Saturday. His name is “G” and he was investigating the Church for a long time. It was a bit like "Runaway Bride" because we had three different dates for his baptism and each time he did not come to his own baptism. But finally, this week he was baptized! Yay!

Not much more happened this week. We were in the Foianini with Sister Judd because she was a little sick, and also went to visit some families in Charcas on Sunday.

President Zambrano has many concerns about the neighborhoods here and he wants them to be stronger, so he sent us on a mission to find good references from our past areas and talk about other ideas that we can do to help grow the church here in Bolivia. So we went and could see some of the families. I was very happy to see Samanta and her family, and also the Quezada Family. They were talking about me all the time, and also have my photos, and those you sent to their home. I miss them very much, but they will be friends forever.

I love you a lot! I hope you can read that . . . haha ​​if you cannot, ask Logan. I hope he has not forgotten his Spanish.

Have a very good week

Sister Nelson xoxo

P.S. Logan was very quick translating Amanda’s letter, but I wasn’t so fast getting it up on the blog. I apologize for the delay—a couple of very busy weeks, but things are quieter now. Thanks for your patience!

Bolivia, Paraiso—Week 3

Classic 'Selfie' in the Micro

Dearest Family and Friends,

 

I really cannot believe that I am now the only missionary from the family out right now. Someone else needs to get out here! But really, it is crazy how fast time flies.

I’m still here in Pariaso. I like it a lot. Actually, maybe I’m enjoying it too much. I’m here with two Americans—which is a good thing sometimes, and others, not so much. We have more creeps following us at night, so we have to be really careful. Don’t worry, Mom, we are taking care of ourselves.

We have a baptism this Saturday for Gabriel. The missionaries have been teaching him for about 4 years now and he’s had 2 different baptismal dates, but didn’t come either time. He will finally be coming (we hope) this Saturday to get baptized. He is very intelligent and he knows so much about the Gospel. He will be a great member.

Well, that’s about all that happened this week. It’s been hard being in an area where I feel like I’m not supposed to be, but I’m trying my best to get to know and love the members and the people here.

I love you all so much!

xoxo Hermana Nelson

P.S.  I found a CPK copycat! Really, though, their pizza boxes were even the same—everything was yellow, white, and black. Ridiculous!

CPK in Bolivia?!

Bolivia, Paraiso—Week 2



I'm Holding a Sloth!

Buenas tardes familia y amigos,

I hope you all had a wonderful week full of love, friends, and family.

I had a strange, but fun week. I started it off with Hermana Padilla, but she left on Tuesday to serve her last two weeks in Charcas. I am now in a trio with Hermana Judd and Hermana Bingham in Paraiso. It’s a small area, but there a lot of people interested in the Gospel, and it’s great to get to know another area and new people. We probably have too much fun seeing that we are all three Americans and like they say here, "Chocas locas" (crazy American girls).

On Monday, we went to the zoo! We found a sloth, and Hermana Bingham picked him up, but then we realized that his hand was bleeding. I guess that if you pick up a sloth, he can grip on really good with his nails and will not ever let go until you cut off his nails. We think that’s what happened, but don’t worry—after taking pictures, we took him to the vet. But yeah, now I can say that I’ve held a sloth!

The other days are mostly just a blur. We ate cinnamon rolls at the airport when we were sending another missionary off to Trinidad. They were delicious! Also, we met a lot of crazy old people. One told us that he knows our church is true because of the scripture that says that His (Christ’s) church has to bear His name. We have another appointment with him this week. Then another old man basically told us he wanted to have children with us. He’s almost 80 years old. We ran away.

We are also attracting a lot of people that speak English. We have about 4 investigators that only want to speak English with us—which is really awkward because we don’t know how to teach in English. The work is going hard and strong. We are having a fantastic time here and I miss you all lots.

For all of you who are on missions or who are planning to serve, make sure you make the most of your time. Although 18 or 24 months seems like a long time, I promise you, it’s not!

I love you all so much. I hope you have a fantastic week.

xoxo Hermana Nelson

Bolivia, Paraiso—Week 1

Dearest Family and Friends,

Wow! Really it was a crazy week. I don’t have too much to say, but I will talk a little about how it went.

First of all, the “V” Family was progressing really well. We finally met with their son that was investigating the church for like a year before he left. He told us he didn’t want to participate more because he saw lots of people who were really great inside the chapel, but were different and didn’t live what they taught outside. So we had a talk with him and explained that the people in the church are imperfect, but called of God, and we just have to remember that we need to always follow Jesus Christ, not members, who are imperfect and may fall into temptation sometimes. He understood really well and said that he would like us to teach him again so he can come back to Church. We were so excited, and were planning on setting a baptismal date, but then came the bad news.

On Friday, there was a little problem in Jardin and President decided to take all the missionaries (the four of us Hermanas) out of our area. I am now in Paraiso with Hermana Padilla, Hermana Bingham, and Hermana Judd. We aren’t sure how long we will be here and I really hope not long because I would like to go back to my area and help these families. If not, I know that I’m here for a reason, so I’m going to try to help this ward the best I can while I am here.

I’ll let you know next week what happens (if we stay or not), but right now President is out of the area, so until he comes back, he won’t be changing anything.

Yep, so that’s basically it. I’m just having the time of my life here with Hermana Judd and Hermana Bingham. They are super fun and it’s nice to be with Americans again.

Love you all so much!

xoxo Hermana Nelson