Letter #30

Hey family! Wow, do i have a ton to WRITE about this week....

Well, to start out, I am happy that all is going well at home! Sounds like things are great! Water is back on and the work starts! Fun! Glad to hear everyone is healthy and all is well back home.

Well, i,ll start by talking what happened back in tena before i left. It was a good week, we weren,t able to find too many new people, but now Elder Russon can start recontacting all the houses that he hasnt tracted. Something very interesting and awesome that happened this last week is that we baptized Fabio!! The old guy with cancer! He felt that he was ready for it, and so he went and had his interview, and we scheduled the date for this last saturday! We figured that four missionaries would carry him out into the water, and then baptize him! So Elder Russon and I and Elder Mora and Elder Abarca carried him out into the water (unbelelivably difficult and heavy!) And i did the prayer, and we baptized him! He was in pain becuase it was a little rough on him, but he was very happy to be baptized. It was great! The next day we confirmed him! His health is getting a lot worse, and so he cant walk now. So we carried up the stairs in a chair to get into the chapel, gave him the holy spirit, and then we left right afterwards to take him to the house. It was so spiritual. Everyone was so impressed that an old man was willing to go through so much pain to be toted around to be baptized and confirmed. But, he knew what rewards are waiting for him in heaven, and so he took the sacrifice and was baptized! Probably the most unique baptism you will ever see! Definitly should be in a liahona article! So that was a miracle the lord gave me my last days in tena. I am very greatful that he gave me such a great blessing for all of my hard work there in the jungle. 

The spanish english relationship is actually a lot better! Elder russon and i talked a bit of english, and so I am pretty well fluent once again! Spanish is great, I dont have too many problems, of course i am not expert yet, i make some grammitacal errors every once in a while, but it is quite well! So well in fact........that I am now the district leader of Pelileo.

Yeah, you read that right. Wow. Talk about insane! I was definitely not expecting to be called as a leader so early..I am definitely humbled...Really, it was very unexpected..so now i am definitely going to have to pick things up! We have district meetings every week, so i will have to give training sessions then, and yeah, it will be interesting! This district is where they send all the new district leaders to get a hang of things as a leader. There are only four of us in the district, but it still is quite the responsibility! I will have to interview all the baptismal candidates, recieve informants every night, and teach everyone how to be a better missionary. Wow. I definitely feel a bit overwhelmed, but i know the lord works in his own time, and that i will grow so very much from this opportunity to serve the other missionaries of my district! I have the faith that through my faith and obediance, the lord will provide me with the skills that i need. 

My new companion is another gringo! He is from the same group as elder russon, his name is elder Ercanbrack. He is from santaquin, utah. His family owns an orchard there, so that is way cool! His spanish is a little lacking, but that is why we are here to learn! 

Pelileo is also a branch, but with a chapel! I am very excited to have a chapel to work with! I am in the city, so i hope my feet hold up! This will be my first sector where i wont be walking on dirt all the time. Haha, kind of funny! Pelileo is a cold town! The wind always blows. Remember the town where the volcano blew up? Yeah, its about 20 miles outside of town, and beautiful! I did take the old secot of elder gomez! Kind of funny that things worked out that way! I kind of feel like president is trying to kill me, because he kept me in the hottest parts of the mission for the last six months, and i finally adjusted to it, and now i am here in the cold! So hopefully i adjust quickly. If you can, now would be a great time to send me that long sleeve white shirt i left home....

Well, this is all about i got to wright this week! I will let you know more about everything when i know more as well! 

I am wishing you all a good week! Pray for me to have inspiracion this week ok? Love you guys tons! I am working hard because you all taught me how to work hard! Thanks for everything!

Elder Nielson