Fountainebleau (Miami) area 1-28-14

Hola familia!
Que Bola? Como esta la pincha? I know that probably makes no sense but that's straight Cuban spanish for you. Spanish land is great. It was so weird this week we found like 3 english people when we were knocking doors and we were like what are you doing here. You don't belong here this is Latin land! haha but it's great here. Your emails this week were all awesome I love hearing about back home and all your adventures! As well as all your spiritual experiences and things that you've learned! Keep up the good work!

Sorry the package hasn't come yet but it should come this week for sure I bet. Thank you so much for sending me that stuff though mom that should be all I need for the rest of my mish so don't worry about sending me anything else! You guys definitely need to send me a pick of Kyle and her new car! Lucky!

This week was another good week. I'm officially 1 now! My first transfer is over! So weird, I still feel like I just got here. We had some good lessons this week. We didn't have a ton like last week but they were really spiritual as well as our investigators were really receptive which is good. I'd rather teach fewer lessons that are powerful than a bunch to people who aren't really interested. This weekend was also stake conference, and Elder Russell M. Nelson was here! It was legendary! It was sad though we sucked on getting people to church and only 2 people showed up. But they're both straight legit and are gonna be baptized for sure!

One of the guys his name is Dayan. and he's already been to church twice. He had a baptismal date for this sunday but the thing was that he was impossible to meet with during the week. so we didn't even think he was gonna come to church because we literally called and visited him everyday during the week and never heard from him. But he came and then after the meeting we asked for a return appointment and set a date for this upcoming sunday with him and he was like, "wasn't it supposed to be this sunday?" Haha he wants to be baptized but the only thing is he's gotta live a few commandments first! We're gonna help him for sure though.

Florida is so great! It's an amazing place and the people here are so awesome. I'm so grateful to be here! Next week is gonna be awesome too because our Recent convert Osmar. promised us that he would take us to the everglades! He's so awesome. They try and feed us like everyday and we just get ticked at them because they are struggling so hard for money right now! But they are most loving family! They promised to go through the temple with us in a year before Elder Ward leaves, and I cannot wait for that day! They love the gospel so much and just talk about how ever since Osmar. got baptized their lives have been like perfect. Haha they're so funny, the wife Brenda just makes me laugh so hard because whenever we say something she just goes, "Que lindos!!" In her little high spanish voice. Which in english means How cute. Such rad people. So now we're just working hard to get more families like them because they are elect!

I love you all so much and am so grateful that we have an eternal family! I know that this is the Lord's work and that it is progressing in His time! I'm just here to do all I can to help out! I know that Jesus Christ is our Savior and that he truly has done everything for us. Because without him we truly are nothing. I encourage you all to read Alma 7:11-12, and just ponder for a sec what exactly those verses are saying. Those are some of the most powerful verses that I have found about the atonement. Keep up the good work back home, and know that I miss you but there's nowhere else I'd rather be then here! Les amo!
Elder Nielsen

That fountain thing is like right across the street from us.

My trainer with these ducks that are called cancer ducks. they're native only to here in Florida and are protected. You can get arrested if you hurt them or something, but they're the ugliest creatures I've ever seen!

Fountainebleau (Miami) area 1-21-14

Familia!
Hope you weren't too worried that I'm writing a day late! Yeah we had a huge tropical storm yesterday and weren't allowed to leave our houses all day so we get to write today instead! The storm was crazy though it was raining so hard!

Just kidding mom!! We didn't have a tropical storm, yesterday was MLK day so Pres pushed P day to today so we could proselyte more while people are at home and off of work! haha hope i got you going for a sec!

Anyway this week has been so rad! So many miracles happened and I was just lovin life all week. Sounds like life back home is going great too except for some snow issues! Dad, that's so funny that you got put back into Priests! you gotta let me know for sure when people start getting calls where everybody in the ward is going! Also I want to crossfit so bad! It was also cool to hear from all of you guys about mitchell's farewell! I was thinking about it on sunday, and am a little sad I missed it, but it was good that he gave me a shout out!

So like I said this week we saw some amazing success. I seriously can't describe how lucky I am to be here in Fountainebleau. The Lord has blessed us so much here! We taught a lot of lessons this week which was really good. I feel like my teaching in spanish is getting a lot better and I'm starting to understand Cuban spanish better! One of our investigators is this really cool guy named Juan he's like 75 but you wouldn't tell just from looking at him. He's in incredible shape and he doesn't smoke or drink or anything! So in other words prime baptism! But he's lived in the U.S. for 30 years and he's a truck driver so he's been all over the U.S. and he literally does not speak a lick of english! He is straight cuban!

We also taught this family called Calvos. We've been teaching them ever since we got here, but they haven't always been keeping commitments so it's been on and off. But we decided to just throw down on them about finding out for themselves and coming to church and it worked! Boldness! haha they came to church and are reading and loving it! the mom her name Leanor, she is the sweetest lady! She calls us her adopted sons. So we were over there this week and she's just feeding us all this food. She feeds us literally everytime we come over. So she brings out this cake and we start eating and were like wow this is pretty good! Ask her what kind of cake it is and she says with this smile on her face, "It's rum cake!" Me and my companion just look at each other. . . OK. . . Haha so funny! We didn't want to embarrass her so we just ate the rest but the next time over we taught the word of wisdom! it was so funny though me and Elder Ward we're just trying not to bust up laughing.

Like I said the work here is great, and were seeing a lot of success just not a lot of baptisms right now! It's alright though because I feel like this next week we have so many potentials, We've got the familia Calvos who are really close just need a little extra nudge, as well as this guy Julio who committed for this Sunday as well as the Cuban guy Juan and his wife. We have so much potential but people are just hesitant to get in the water and be baptized! We're trying so hard to overcome concerns, but we're just telling them that all they need to is pray! But they keep letting little non important things get in the way! It's all good I need to be grateful that we at least have people to teach!

I know this is Christ's church here on the earth today! The people who attend church aren't perfect and sometimes things don't always run as smoothly as they should, but nonetheless this is still his church! We truly do have His authority, and we have the fulness of the gospel! I'm so grateful to have this knowledge and just want to help everyone receive these same blessings! I love you so much familia and am so grateful for all you do!
Elder Nielsen

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

Fountainebleau area 1-6-14

Familia!
Como estan!? Me encanta hablar espanol! Anyways sounds like you guys had a crazy fun christmas break and new years! My week has been pretty eventful too. Probably the best thing was our baptism! booyah! Holy cow, but yeah so I told you all about O before, and man him and his family are so awesome! His baptism was super spiritual, and man he was feeling the spirit so hardcore! He has 2 little twin girls that turn 8 at the end of january and they were so excited to see their dad finally make the decision to be baptized! Then he got the priesthood this sunday, and he's going to baptize his daughters when they turn 8! Their family was so happy at church, and you can already see how the gospel has changed their lives! Sadly, the families I talked about that we found kind of fell off the planet and we only met with one of them once and then they wouldn't give us a return appointment. So ticked about that! Yeah we've been shut down a lot this week. We led our zone in blessings given, but hardly any of the people we blessed gave us a return appointment. so we're gonna try and find some new ways to find people, and we're going to try and get a free english class going! Because literally no one here speaks english, so we figure if we can hang out enough flyers for free english classes that someone who's willing to accept the gospel will come! The people are really awesome, and they all really do believe in Jesus Christ, but it's hard to find people who are willing to accept anything new. Like probably 95% of the people we invite to be baptized say they've already been baptized, most of them when they were babies to. So we try and explain to them that we need to be baptized like Jesus was and by the right authority, but then they just reject us. But we've got some good Investigators right now, one of them is named Julio, he's an awesome guy from Ecuador, the only thing is we have to help him live the law of chastity first. Yeah, the way he puts it is he has to know what's inside the grocery store before he will shop there, or something like that. Haha but we're working with him and hopefully we can baptize him this weekend! Also this super cool lady named Hermana Pavon and her sister Netty. Hermana Pavon has cancer and so her and her sister live in this apartment and they are just amazing. Holy cow they have so much faith, the only problem is it's hard to find a time to teach them because she has to go to the hospital a lot but we taught her the restoration and they committed to read and pray about it, so we'll find out today or tomorrow how it all went!

Familia I love you all so much, and miss you all as well! Just reading all of your emails about all the family being together made me think of all the goods times we've had as a family and then I wanted to just wrestle some little ninos! Haha I know this church is true, with all of my heart! It has truly changed my life and I know it can change anyone's who decides to follow the example of Jesus Christ! Keep loving life in Utah!
Elder Nielsen
Oh and p.s. thanks for reminding me of my birthday, haha I seriously forgot. Oh and yes I got Grandma and Grandpas package literally like 4 hours after I emailed last week.

Fountainebleau area 12-30-13

Missionary Christmas!

Just wanted to say what up from the hoods of Miami! haha whoop whoop! It was awesome to hear from all of you on Christmas, but sorry momma let me just say that it was easily the worst day in my mish so far! It was the only time ive been sad cause i just missed you guys a ton! But yeah that night when we went out and harvested we literally found no one! So greasy we knocked doors for 3 and half hours and nobody would listen or they just werent home. Usually we can get 3 blessings in an hour easy, but during those 3 and half hours we only got 4. Its all good though because we got another baptism coming tonight!

His name is Osmar and he has literally been taught by 8 sets of missionaries! Yeah crazy, but weve visited him a couple times but when we went and visited him on saturday night you could tell something had changed in him. He truly had been humbled. Him and his wife were telling us how they were in tough times right now and that they believe its because they're not being obedient to God and His Commandments. His wife is less active. But anyways we asked Osmar what he felt he needed to do to fix this and he knew and he said he needs to be baptized! So awesome so we set a time for tonight at 630 because he couldnt do it yesterday. But it was just so awesome to see how he was really just like the people in Alma 32 that he was humbled in his afflictions and finally prepared to be baptized! But so yeah hes getting baptized tonight by the bishop.

Last night was also really cool too, because we went and did some harvesting in some apartments we had just found and holy cow everyone there is just prepared to receive the gospel. 3 doors in a row there was 3 families that all welcomed us in and let us bless their home and all accepted baptism! So crazy! I wanted to just weep tears of joy! But yeah now we need to do good follow up with them, and teach them so they can get into the waters. sorry I dont have enough time to go into details about them but Ill let you know more if theyre gonna get baptized soon.

Its great to hear that you guys are all doing well in O-town and enjoying the mountains. Man I miss those but they are so many beautiful things here in florida. haha its just really hot! But Kyle I didn't receive a letter from you this week so I expect a good one next week! Familia, this gospel is true. It just does bring so much happiness to everyone who lives it! I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have to help people come to this joy! Im so grateful for our savior Jesus Christ. I know that he truly took upon him all of the sins of the world, and that the only way we can be cleansed from sin is through Him. I know that He knows us perfectly so we just have to learn how to trust in him. I love you all so much and would just like to invite you to try and find ways to serve others. I truly have learned that we are the happiest when were not thinking about ourselves. In the mish I honestly dont care that I sweat buckets all day or that some people like to yell f words at us on the roads, when we find just one person who lets us pray with them or when we teach someone a powerful lesson it truly makes it all worth it! I have already learned to find joy in the things that I do have, because there are a lot of people in this world who have basically nothing. I love and miss you all so much, just keep living right and helping others!
Elder Nielsen

Florida!!

Familia!
Alright here it goes, I don't have much time so hopefully I can say some stuff. Anyways I mailed you a letter with a lot of info about my area so hopefully you get that because I dont want to say everything thats in that again.

But my area is called Fountainebleau North, and its in the Hialeah zone. My trainer is Elder Ward. We white washed the area which means were both brand new to the area. Normally they keep one elder who already knows the area here, but for some reason it didnt happen. Such a good area though! Im already loving the people here.

President Anderson is so amazing. Holy cow hes got a high standard for us here in the mission! Haha really strict but I know that exact obedience brings miracles and I want miracles! So yeah that means I wont be wearing any brown pants. . . Sorry mom, but dont worry about sending me any more pants ill be fine.

These first few days have been crazy, like unreal. I havent had anytime to think about anything other than missionary work cause its just go go go go all the time because we have a lot of work to do since were white washing. But one thing thats different here is that instead of just knocking peoples doors and asking to leave a message with them, we ask if we can just pray with them, and then if they let us we ask if we can kneel down and bless their home. Its so awesome! We get to use our priesthood multiple times every day, and it really gets people feeling the spirit! We already have 3 new investigators from just that!

Weve been knocking a lot of door these past few days because we dont really know any of the investigators that the past missionaries were teaching so were just trying to find people.

Also our ward here is awesome. Holy cow, our bishop and his counselors are amazing men! It was so good to get to meet them yesterday and all the other members. But yeah sacrament was super amazing, and then after sacrament these 2 sisters introduced us to a friend that this was the 3rd time they had brought him to church, and that the other missionaries had taught a few times as well. His name is Israel, and he is amazing. He has a speech disability and the only thing he can say is Palo-palo. haha so random I know, but you ask him anything and his response is Palo-palo-palo-palo. Yeah so he was kind of tough to teach but the two sisters who brought us to him wanted us to try and teach him everything and get him baptized that day! So during the last 2 hours of church we sat down with him, tried to get to know him, and just started teaching. We just tried to teach straight by the spirit, and have the gift of discernment so we could understand what he was saying. Oh and he can understand everything perfectly and he has some other disability with his right arm that it doesnt work right. Not really sure what it is though.

Anyways needless to say we taught him a ton, basically everything the other elders hadnt taught him, and then invited him to be baptized that day right after church. he smiled huge and just nodded his head and said palo-palo in like a really excited tone! We both felt the spirit and knew he should be baptized! So boom just like that we got him an interview told members about it filled the font got him in a baptismal suit and then baptized and confirmed him! So awesome! I got to baptize him! First baptism in only 5 days here, and we met him and baptized him the same day! So nutty! Straight up miracle! Haha the baptismal ordinance was a little weird because of his disability with his right arm so we didnt really know how to work around it, but so I just held his left hand put my arm to the square and said it all in spanish, and then he was like just so excited to go down, so he just bent like forward instead of back, and then I just kind of helped him go all the way under and then pulled him out. Haha kind of awkward if you can imagine it, but nonetheless he still went all the way under and then I helped him back up and man he was just smiling so big! Haha you could tell he was feeling the spirit hardcore and I was too. After that the bishop shared some thoughts and confirmed him and everything right there. The blessing he gave was INCREDIBLE! He straight up told him that according to his faithfulness and prayers and progression in the gospel he would be healed from his disabilities! Man the spirit was so strong and you could tell Israel when the bishop was talking to him afterword understood everything. K well thats all I got but I love you guys and miss you and cant wait to get to talk to you on Navidad!
Elder Nielsen

Elder Nielsen, Israel, and Elder Ward

First baptism

Mexico MTC pictures

With his companion Elder Beus and their teacher Hermano Enciso

CCM District

With their Branch President Torres