Fountainebleau (Miami) area 1-13-14

Familia!
Alright, it's been so good to hear from all of you! You're all so awesome! You sound like you're living the dream and loving life, but let me tell ya you don't have it as good as me I'm sorry to say! haha nothing greater than missionary work. It's good to hear that the ward is still doing good back home, and that Dad is finally going hard in the paint! haha we'll definitely have to do some crossfit when I get back pops, because I'm losing everything out here! Haha I feel like Ive already lost so much weight here! I haven't really taken any pictures to send. . . I'll try and take some today but we don't really have a lot of time and we're not supposed to look like tourists so. . . But i'll try! Believe it or not though P-days are usually the most boring day of the week. We don't have a car so we just have to try and hitch rides from the other Elders in our house to go anywhere. And all they usually want to do on P-day is clean, eat food, shop and then sleep. But next week we're gonna try and get a member to take us to the Everglades! Because they're in our area and it would be so unreal! Don't worry about me and food mom, because we get taken care of here! Last week we literally got fed everyday. somedays we got fed twice in a day! Latins love to cook for us, which is good, but sometimes it can really wreck your day because they want to talk forever! Holy cow, the people here are so friendly but it's hard to get the point across that the only reason we eat with them is to help strengthen their faith, as well as help them preach the gospel and get referrals! I got the birthday package. Thank you so much for that! Everything in it was awesome, I especially love that picture of Christ! Maddie thank you so much for that pic! That thing is awesome!

I'm trying to think of what I want to say from this week but so much is coming to mind! We had a lot of success this week, and our Key Indicators for this week we're a lot better than last which is good sign. Sadly we didn't get to baptize this week, which sucked because we had a date for this sunday. Her name is Alicia, she's a 12 year old girl in a Part member less active family. The other elders before us taught her a ton, so  we set her up for what was supposed to be her baptismal service this past sunday but then her Dad had to be dumb about it! Haha ok sorry probably shouldn't say that but I was ticked. He's not a member and said that she had to wait til her brother gets back from the Marines in february for her to be baptized! But yeah we talked to bishop about it and he's coming with us on tuesday night to convince her dad.

Another crazy thing that happened is I don't remember if I told you about her before there's this lady and her family that we're teaching named Hermana Pavon. It's her, her husband Pedro, and her sister Netty. They're all around 50. But the crazy thing is she has cancer. Yeah no bueno, she can like barely walk. But anyway we've had 2 super spiritual lessons with them now, and we got them all to commit to be baptized! So legit! Hermana P just has to get healthy enough to be able to come to church. Man I can't even describe to you how awesome they are. They are so elect, and they already believe Joseph Smith was a prophet and everything! We also gave her a blessing of health and man that was powerful to say the least. 

People here are awesome but everybody is just catholic. We pray with people, then invite them to baptized and everybodys response is, "Oh ya fui bautizado" which means i've already been baptized. We try and explain how Christ set the example and we need to be baptized in the same way he was. A lot of people are really set in their ways which makes it tough to overcome barriers so we just testify as much as we can!

Florida is great, it's so gorgeous here, and my companion keeps telling me we're not even in a good looking area! He just came from an area where he literally lived in an apartment on the beach! But I still love it here in fountainebleu because we really have one of the best wards in all the mission. Our chapel is filled every sunday! and we have so many members who want to come out and teach with us or feed us!

Familia you are so awesome, I miss you guys so much, and I'm so grateful to have such a great family! Keep up the good work guys and never forget how much your Father in Heaven loves you. I know that He knows each and every one of us personally and that He loves us more can we imagine! Always pray to Him, and always try and listen. Prayer is a conversation, and we need to make sure we're not the ones who do all the talking. Love you guys!
Elder Nielsen