Holdin' Down the Fort

Hello family!  As I always start my letter, the time is flying by even faster! I cannot believe it...it scares me!  The week has gone by super fast, we have done a ton of things, and honestly, i can say that i am tired! More tired then i have ever been in my life! But, that is exactly how the mission should be, so i am defintely not complaining! Well, i will do the best i can to tell you all how my week went.  Well, to start out, we are doing really well not only in our sector, but also in our zone! We have the confidence of our district leaders and also of the other missionaries, so i feel like we are working together here in los chillos. It is really what we need as a zone more then anything. Unity. when we work like a well oiled machine, eveything turns out great. So elder velasco and i are very content with the work of our zone. Of course there are a few missionaries that are struggling, but we are doing what we can to help them out. We have a new missionary in our zone that wants to go home, so we are doing all we can to help him stay here, and it really looks like it is working out! We share the ward conocoto with them, and so i asked for a list of non-members who attend church, and found two baptisms for this elder and his companion, and so they are way happy and are going to have these baptisms this week! How great for them! It has really helped to animate them, and they thanked me for my help. So i feel very good with my calling as a zone leader. I really enjoy to help and lead others in this type of way. You as parents have defintely taught me to use my talents in that sort of way, and i am very greatful for that!  President popped by this thursday to give our zone interviews, (It is so nice being so close to him!!) In my interview, he had me say the prayer, but in english.....I absolutely destroyed it...he even laughed at me haha! I can type well, and talk spanglish well, but completely in english? Yeah, hard!! It made me think of my homecoming talk that i am going to have to give.....i think it might be a little....rough...haha  When I am with President Christensen, we talk in english when we talk personally, but spanish when we are with latinos. The spanish of president is perfect, but sister christensen isnt quite there, but she is really working hard and learning the lanquage way fast! So that is way great. Today we had a zone activity, and we played soccor. It was really fun! but it made me appreciate all the activities we have, because when i called president for permission, he kinda grilled me haha....But i guess those are the joys of being a ZL. Afterwards, we headed over to the mall! Holy cow!!! This thing was a mall! Twice the size of the boise mall!! Insane! I am definitely in a whole different ball game here in quito...It is super nice because we have members that will assist lessons with us, and they will drive us around in their cars!! How fun to ride in a car! I almost forgot how it was! I have no clue how i am going to be able to learn how to drive again... Dang dad! Looks like we will be serving missions together! How exciting you will be mission leader! You will have to start looking for people to baptize! That will be super fun to work with you when i am back home! I would definitely love to do some splits with the missionaries! Start reading preach my gospel, there are some great parts on how you as a mission leader can help! Also there are videos on how the mission leader works with the missioneries on lds.org Start researching! I will talk with my mission leader, who is downright awesome, and ask him for tips on how to be a good help to the missioneries.  The weather here is super duper hot!! It is always sunny, and we go around in short sleeves all the time! kinda nice! I havent shined my shoes for days, because i havent needed to! I have been on concrete all day haha! It is defintely great here, i am loving the mission, the work, and everything about what i am doing! All is well, i am healthy, and started to gain weight back, so i am happy for that! my companion and i have started a serious excercise plan, and so i am trying to gain back all that i have lost.  Also, this week Elder C. Scott Grow from the seventy is coming to visit our mission! How cool! He is going to talk to us zone leaders thursday, and all the zones of quito on friday. It definitely should be a great experiance! I hope he doesnt pound on us too hard,..the seventies tend to do that...haha...we were asked to read his talk del milagro de la expiación, and it was an amazing talk! I absolutely loved it! Definitely a great one for you guys to watch and read as well! I am very excited for what he will bring to the table with us.  Well, because i have been threatened by more then three people to right more, i rote a ton this week! So i feel pretty good for that. Thank you all for all of your support! I defintely have the best family ever!! I love you all so much and always am praying for you! Have a wonderful time and enjoy your vacation!  Love, Elder Nielson will you please fill me in on what is happening with kam? Is he going on a mission? No one has told me anything! Also, i recieved the first package! The big one! Wow, thank you so much! Am eam enjoying everything in there so much! I love you all tons!  hey, when you send another package, send me all my ties! The green one, the pink ones too! I want all of them! If you can, find a cool black one too, that would be a great gift..=) Love you all! p.s.