So in the MTC, I was getting lunch and as I sat down to eat, I got the strongest impression that I needed to fast for my investigators who we were meeting later that day. I did, and we had two awesome lessons. We even got a baptismal date on one of them. The next day, I started to feel sick (migraine, stomach ache, etc.) So I fasted again for lunch. By the next morning, the sickness was gone. I really wanted to help Colton out, but sending a package wasnt really an option. So from that Thursday to the next Monday, I decided that I wanted to fast so that Colton could see miracles. It was an amazing testimony builder for me. Reading Coltons email from this week was my big spiritual experience this week.
Elder Nelson II
From Colton: Wow!!
This week went by so fast!! But so much happened. I am just going to tell one story cause it was kinda amazing!
The novel of a man named Tomas:
Once upon a time, Elder Gneck and I were walking home from the pension 5 days ago. ( Shoutout to Porter for fasting... Don´t even know if it was for me, or missionaries, but I am giving you credit for bringing miracles from the Lord to us.). It was 9:45 and we turn this corner and see this man walking toward us. Imagine this, long white hair, big white beard, trench coat, cowboy boots, and looks like he is about 65, wearing sunglasses at night. Even in Argentina, that screams creepy.... This is where is gets crazy.
The moment that he saw us, he stops walking immediately and asks us who we are. We say we are the missionaries and he asks if we have a minute to share a word with him. We responded that we had a little time. Then he just says, ¨ok, come to my house.¨ Then he just starts walking away. I got this way sick feeling. In fact, it was bad enough that I told my comp that we shouldn´t go. so we told this man we would come back another day. He got upset and said, Ï need a word of the Lord now, not another day. Can you help me or not?¨ so against everything I was feeling, we went to his home.
Once we walked inside, he locked the door behind us. I literally wanted to cry. I was seriously freaking out. Everything was screaming get out of there. I was sure that this guy was possessed and we were gonna die tonight. It was that bad of a feeling. Then this man, sits down and introduces himself as Tomas. He just stared at us for a couple minutes and didn´t say anything. I was literally praying that we could leave soon. It was not good. Then something happened that we didn´t expect, Tomas began to cry.... By this time we had figured out that he was drunk. This is what kills me. The natural man in me was convinced that there was something wrong with this man... More so than we could help. I just wanted to leave and didn´t care why this man was crying.
Up to this point in the night, Tomas hadn´t told us more than his name and to come to his house... And he was already crying. This is where I have to thank my comp. He had some serious spiritual glasses right there. Long story short, I was freaking out all night. And tomas told us that he has bone cancer and that very soon he was going to die, and none of his kids cared about him or wanted to help him. We bore testimony of the Savior´s love for him and told him that we would back another day.
when I got home that night, I sat on my bed and just cried. I felt awful. How could I judge a man that I didn´t know anything about? A 70 year old man that has a drinking problem because he is on the brink of death. I read the words to Hymn, ¨Lord I would Follow Thee¨. Needless to say, I had some repenting to do. Because of my spiritual shortsightedness, I nearly cost the Spirit of the Lord the opportunity to change the life of someone who definitely needed it. From now on, I will do everything I can to see someone as the Lord does. The potential that they have. The next day, we had intercambios.... Kent and Gneck went back to Tomas´s house. Turns out he had to be moved out of his house by today because his renter is a jerk. He got kicked out of his house and didn´t know how he would move any of his stuff because of his cancer. It is hard for him to move around and his family has abandoned him.
I wish that I could explain all the intricicies of this story but there are so many. He has had such a hard life. Long story short, here is the lesson that I learned from this experience..... God put Tomas in our path that night. We were able to teach him and help him move today into his new apartment. The coolest part is that we were reading 3 nefi 11 con Tomas and as soon as he read about baptism he asked if we had this authoriy to baptize. When we told him yes, he began to cry and gave us a hug. He felt the Spirit in that moment and the first thing he said to us after that was ¨After I get baptized, can I do what you guys do? I want everyone to know about this Gospel. I was praying to God for a son to help me move, and He sent me 4.¨ That moment was such a testimony builder for me. It reminded me of a quote by Dallin H. Oaks.... ¨Our desire to share the Gospel is a good indicator of the extent of our personal conversion.¨ The moment that tomas felt the Spirit, he wanted to share it with others. So my question for everyone reading this email is, What is the extent of your personal conversion?
Tomas, if he can stop drinking, has a baptismal date for the 28 de Octubre. His life has done a 180 turn since we introduced him to the Gospel. To anyone reading this email, listen to me for two seconds. Just two seconds. If you don´t read anything else, read this. I KNOW, with all of my heart that God is in the details of everything. He put Tomas in our path this week, and he is going to put people in your path. He is aware of You, or your neighbor, your dog, of everything, and He loves all of them perfectly. Because we chose to go to Tomas´s house that night, his life will always be changed. But not because of us, because of the Spirit of God in his life. The Spirit doesn´t change a person, it changes the literal character of a person. If you aren´t living worthy of the Spirit, change something in your life so that you are. If you do have the Spirit in your life, ACT on it. God is there for you and He is waiting with open arms for each one of us to find Him. This. Gospel. Is. Happiness.
Spiritual challenge: I read John 13:1-20 this week with this whole experience. I invite each of you to read it and do your own study of it. If we can apply the message that we learn from it in our life, I can promise that we will become more like the Savior wants us to be.
I love you all. I hope that this email made sense. If not, just know that I know the church is true and I love this work. Sorry if I don´t email you back too. I really try, but there is work to do and people to baptize. ;)
Pictures: With Tomas at his new house having an Asado after moving him in.
....
Aca estoy de nuevo,
Familia y amigos, Yo puedo prometer que si tenemos suficiente fe para actuar en nuestras creencias... Vamos a ver milagros. Mas que podemos entender. Yo tengo que agradecer a mi amigo, Elder Nelson, por su ayuno para mi y tambien, Yo quiero agradecer a ustedes por sus oraciones para mi. Gracias a esta, yo he visto milagros esta semana.
Have fun translating...:)
Funny moments:
-Gneck cooked up some cow stomach this week because he likes it. I cannot explain how gross it smelled. It was about like the south end of a north bound cow. We had to go in the room to stop from puking. It literally just smelled like sewer haha. Nevertheless, we all had to try it. It actually wasn´t too bad. Just the thought of it was super gross.
-We all went and soaked our feet in the river on P Day because we aren´t allowed to swim. We looked like little kids on Christmas morning. We were seriously freaking out haha. It was the best feeling ever. My feet haven´t touched the ground for almost 4 months, and walking through sand was the best feeling ever.
Spiritual moments:
-So Tomas is literally golden... Almost. He has a big problem with drinking. Like way big. He almost got kicked out of his apartment that we just moved him in. So we have been trying to teach him the word of wisdom. He still can´t let the cervesa go. He thinks it doesn´t have alcohol. If he can´t let go of it this week, we can´t have his baptism this weekend. We are praying super hard for him, but he went to church on Sunday and literally cried through the meeting. It was so spiritual and he is progressing so fast.
-So we had a lesson with one of our investigators this week. Her name is Silvia. I am gonna share something personal here btw... Ever since I was little, I knew that the Book of Mormon was true, but I never had like a crazy testimony of it. I have been praying the last few weeks to increase my testimony of it and the coolest thing happened. We were teaching Silvia and her friend the Restoration. Then Silvia´s friend read the experience of Joseph Smith and just began to cry. The Spirit was so strong. I get chills now just thinking about it. We testified of Joseph Smith and then the book of Mormon. When I took the opportunity to testify, there was not a doubt in my mind that this is the word of God. I knew, and I know with all of my heart that happiness is found in the book of Mormon. It is there for all of us waiting to bless us. It was such an amazing lesson. By the time we finished, I was crying and so were the investigators. It was so powerful. Two more on the road to baptism. Gneck would cry but he is too tough for that ;) haha jk.
-The miracle of the week!! Gneck and I set a goal in our weekly planning for 6 investigators in church. Throughout the week, it was not looking good. We only had one for sure. Saturday before church we worked hard inviting people... Then Sunday morning came around. We went and picked up the family Villacorta first. Suprisingly they were all ready to go. All of them. so we took them to church. Then we went and picked up Tomas. When we got back to church with him, another investigator that we didn´t even pick up had showed up. At this point we have 5 investigators in church. Gneck and I were running around like crazy. It was way stressful but way cool. Then this member comes up to us and says he brought his girlfriend who isn´t a member to church and she wants to take the charlas. Gneck and I were so so so so so so so happy and excited. Then the reunion was so spiritual and totally addressed the needs of all of our investigators. We sang Families can be Together forever for the last hymn. The Spirit was so strong, and the Dad for the Villacorta family ( who has been against the church for a long time) totally got teary eyed and you could tell the Spirit touched hymn. I was even a little choked up at the end. It was super dope. 6 investigators in church. That is way unheard of. It was so cool. The Lord blessed us so much. When you have righteous desires, he will consecrate your work and do everything in His power to help you. I testify that that is true!
Spiritual challenge: This is a big one guys... Get ready. Invite someone to church. We did this Sunday, and then when we put our trust in the Lord, He totally pulled through and made it happen. I promise that if you make the effort, if it is His will, He. Will. Help. You. Make. It. Happen. Let me know how it goes!
I love you all. Here are some pictures... We made some Arvejas and they were so good. Four gringos is the equivalent of 1 Argentinan. Gneck and I took a dope tracting picture. It is pretty funny. Then there is a picture of us walking to church with the Villacorta family. The little girl held my hand all the way there.
