#43

Hey fam! 

Once again it has been another week! The time is just whirling by, I am going to have ten months this week! It is all going by way too fast...Time flies by when you are having fun! And also when you are busy haha....

well, to let you know, this is a whole different animal here in the huge city of Quito! I am in a part called Conocoto, where it is all city! I havent seen a dirt road all week! Haha, definitely a huge change from what i have been in all of my mission. The people here are smart. And successful. Also quite the change in sceneries. From what I have seen so far, this is my favorite sector! At church on sunday, i met high priests, second counselors to the bishop, and all the sorts of callings that i havent seen so far here. It is a ward! With tons of faithful people! What?? Haha, it is definitely going to be a great time here! I am loving the sector. We found a few new investigators this week, and so we are happy and having people ready for baptism. So we will see what happens. My campanion is awesome! We get along so well! Elder Velasco. He is from chile, and his culture of his country is so different from the other countries of south america! He is humble, but very succesful in his personal life. It is quite the change. I can tell that we are going to have a great change together! We laugh all the time, and we work hard too. It is such a change having a companion that can teach as well as me! It defintely takes the pressure off! I actually feel really great as a zone leader. We had a zone conference, and elder velasco and i did really great teaching the rest of our zone. Our zone is great, there are quite a few good guys, and so we are hoping for lots of success in this next week. 

umm, I am running out of time, we dont get much time to right as zone leaders, it seems that i am always busy, but I really love it1 I feel a lot better with myself this way! The mission is great. I absolutely love it! I love what i am doing, and who i am doing it for. I am sorry i dont have any more time this week, but thank you so much for the letter! 

I love you all tons!

Elder Nielson 

p.s.

i am feeling a tons better, i finished my pills, and now we have an investigator that works at a pharmacy that gives us ons of vitamins and pills to help our health for free! Haha it is great! This is definitely a sector where americans go to retire. I will definitely have to take you guys here after the mission! 

Love ya! 

Letter #42

Hello family! Wow, once again another week has passed. It all seems to be going by too fast! 

Well, I honestly dont know where to start this week! It has been so crazy, it is hard to explain all, so I will start in order of time and how things happened. 

First, we the missionaries and our mission leader set up a huge activity for the branch! Outside on the soccor court we set up  carnival with tons of games and fun stuff. In order to play, you were given five white tcickets, and had to pay one ticket to play a game, and we gave them another colored ticket if they played. So afterwards, we went into the church and we had three more rooms set up of a casino, diskoteca (dance room) and also a room with videos of the church. afterwards, we shut off all the power, and basically judged everyone by their choices (tickets they had) and sent them to three other rooms we had prepared, the celestial kindgom (beautiful with food) the......i forgot the names of the kingdoms in english......bueno, el reino celestial, el terrestre, y el telestial. El reino Telestial tenia mucha basura y fue horrible, y el reino terrestre fue mas o menos. So that it was we sent them to, depending in their accions and choices. Afterwards we brought them all together to explain the plan of salvation, and so that was great! We got quite a few references for that, and i recomend activities to all missionaries who are struggling finding people to teach! 

Then, sunday came around, and everything changed! I hd a feeling I would be leaving, and so I went to the branch council kind of sad. president Panta made me bear my testimony and tell them all that i would be probably be leaving. So it was sad. I recieved my changes, and my compnaion and i headed out to tell everyone goodbye. It was super sad, everyone cried tons, but they all fed me with pizza and chicken, so i was more then happy. 

 Later that night, Elder Paz, the assistent to the president, gave me a call. He told me early my changes, and where I would be going. I am now in this sector, a part of quito in the city called Los Chillos. He told me I would be serving as a zone leader in this sector. Yes, Zone Leader. I am so very humbled in this moment. Like, down to my feet humble. I feel really great that the lord trusts me to lead others, and at the same time, I feel a little bit scared. To be a Zone Leader here in the mission and to only have 9 months in the mission is unheard of. But, I trust in the callings that president Christensen has made, and I am very excited to work my very hardest for my zone. i have really started to depend more in the lord these past few weeks, and i can feel his power through me when i testify. I love being a missionary! I love the trust the lord has in me, and i promise to always do everything i can to keep his trust. All depends on our obediance and faith. when we have these two things, we cannot fail. I have seen that in the mission, and i know i will continue to see it if i continue with diligence. I depend on the Lord for everything. I feel more and more in his debt every day. I just hope that i can bring more people under this joy that the atonement brings. I have a testimony now. I have seen too many miracles and have felt the spirit in my life too many times to ever deny it. I am a disciple of Christ, and I will follow his footsteps the best I can. 

This morning i finished off the very last pill that they gave me, so i hope i can start to gain back the weight i have lost! My new companion is elder velazco, from chile. He has quite a bit of time in the mission, and i can tell he is a great guy! I cant wait to ge to work with him. I finished with my last companion, elder velasquez. That, to be honest, was probably one of the hardest changes i have had so far. It was very tough to get along with him, but now, everything is well and better. I am really greatful for the lord and the chance to gain more patience and help out this elder. He has made a huge change in his life in this last change, and I hope he continues strongly. 

I am so happy to see that everything is going well in the family! You all seem very busy! But always remember that you need to pray and read the scriptures together every day. I have seen the differences in families that dont read the book of mormon and those that do, and i promise you many blessings and peace in the family if you read for 15 minutes together every day. Do it. 

Well family, this is what i have for you this week! Please pray for me extra hard in this week! Pray for my ability to be a leader and also for my zone, Los Chillos Norte. Thank you all so much for everything! I love you all so much! Have a wonderful week! Work hard, be safe!

Love,

Elder Nielson 

Pics

#41

Hello family! Wow! Judging from the photos it was a super fun week! Good for you all to get some fun time! 

Well, this week has gone by too fast to remember much, but we did get to meet our new president! We had a big reunion of three zones again, and we got to meet him and his wife and his 15 year old daughter. They all seem like really great people! We had a great time listening to president christenson and his plans for the mission. It was really interesting to hear the different plans he has. We will definitely be changing a lot of things around here, so we will see what happens! It was way funny, because the day we met them was the fourth of july, and so we were all together, about 50 missionaries. We were waiting for him in the church for about half an hour, and so as a joke me and another gringo from my zone started to sing the national anthem. By the end of the song, all the gringos were singing. It was hilarious, and fairly patriotic. So we did our country proud haha. 

My companion and I have also decided that we could be catholic monks, becuase we beat the staircase of faith! Haha, it is a huge staircase in a little pueblo of our sector called Patate. They are way religious because of a huge earthequake that happened about 40 years ago. out of a crevice, supposesdly popped out a huge idol of jesus christ. So now, they worship this idol as the lord of the earthquake in the catholic church there. So that is kind of a funny story. So we went tothis little city and climbed the staircase. It was way beautiful, and now we can say that our faith is complete! 

I also am a little concerned for the weight I have last here in pelileo. It has been about ten pounds. I have felt decently healthy, but not perfect, so i finally went in to a clinic and took tests. I sent in the results to the mission nurse, and she said I have a type of parasite she has never heard of before. So we have been talking to a doctor here in quito, and we got me some pills to help take care of the problem. I have to take thirty pills in ten days, and afterwards i hope to feel completely healthy and back to one hundred percent once again! So things are getting better here.  

This is the alst week of transfers, and I really would like to stay, but i think i will be heading out next week. I have really felt good here in pelileo! It feels like a second home to me. I love the people of the branch here! It will be really tough to go. I am definitely planning on taking you all here to know it! It would be perfect to spend time at. So i am enjoying time here with the members, and also with my converts. I guess we will see what happens next week when changes happen. There are 39 gringos in the mtc waiting to come to quito now. I will repeat that. 39 new missionaries will be coming into the mission this change! I dont know where will we find space for them, so it will be interesting what president will do. 

Well, this is my letter for the week! Thanks so much for the letter and pictures! I love you all tons!

Love,

Pics

 pizza family home evening night!

 We found a duck! 

 Hermana Cueto had to leave! Emergency changes! 

 Chiquitcha, a beautiful part of our sector! 

 more of chiquitcha

 parade in pelileo! 

 This is the baptism of Oscar

 So the mattres in front of the door is a prank I pulled on my comp when he was showering..good times! 

also, Sister Markham made us cookies and cake! It was the best!!