Baptism In A Bathtub

中秋节快乐！

Hello Everyone! 

I officially have 7 P-days left... Weird to think about! 

This week we saw many miracles! We had exchanges with our ZL's this week and poor Elder Prada wasn't ready for Chinese land haha. We mainly drive to parks to find Chinese people. We pulled up to one of our usual parks and BOOM! The park had turned into China! We were there for over an hour talking to different Chinese people. Almost all of them were interested and met with us the next day.

We met with a new family by the name of the Huang's. Great family looking for a church their son Jack is a little quiet, he is about my age. They were so confused about how we knew Chinese. They also came to our English class the following day.

About 1 hour after their lesson we taught a woman by the name of Maggie. She has been Christian for about 5 years and was baptized in China. However, had forgotten a lot so we started from square 0. She came to church on Sunday and loved it. She ended up in Primary the whole time because her daughter wouldn't let her leave but that's ok. She is reading and praying every day.

Last but not least we also met with a woman by the name of Joanna. Wow, she is a fireball. Her lesson was so amazing, we explained the importance of baptism and she stops me. She said, "I was baptized last week" . She proceeds to show us a video of her in a bathroom with about 8 Chinese people all singing and dancing. They filled up her bathtub and the pastor baptized her in the bathtub.... It was one of the oddest things I had seen. She asked after, "Is this serious enough?" We began to explain our churches way of doing it and the necessity of Authority. She goes, "Oh ok I am going to get baptized again. When can I get baptized"? She is looking great and we are excited for her and the progression she is making.

This week was 中秋节 (Mid-Autumn Festival). Which is a big holiday in China. Out here for us it just really made it hard to get appts, haha but oh well happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

Work is going great and time is just teleporting at this point. 

Love ya guys!! 

Elder Nelson 孙长老

Just 2 Elders furthering the work!

Be Vewy Vewy Quiet

22 Months Later...

Hello everyone! 

This week was another miracle filled week! I hit my 22 months this week which hasn't really registered with me yet haha. I hope my Chinese can catch up to the time frame I have been out now haha. 

We met with some great people this week and saw many amazing things happen.

We have been going to great lengths to talk with everyone and let them know of the Restored Gospel. Therefore the Lord has blessed us immensely because of it. 

One person I would like to focus on goes by the name of Fiona, we found her on WeChat. She gave me a call and talked for a long time about how she has been arguing with her husband. She sighed and said, "I just want peace". We met with her and testified heavily of Christ's Atonement. She loved every part of it. I asked her a question: "Fiona who do you turn to when you want to find peace?" 

She said, " I usually call my friends and vent to them, but they don't fully know my situation". I said "Now just think that your Savior suffered ALL things, He knows ALL of your struggles, pains, sins, etc. We can turn to Him and He can heal us, He can change us, and repair us." The spirit was very strong, it hit right home. We invited her to baptism and she took a date with no hesitation. We are excited for her and her future progress.

We went to a retirement center this week and I made some good friends. I played Yahtzee with an elderly woman name Margret for 2 hours haha. I have never heard a more colorful mouth in my life, haha, she is a fireball who has grown up in New York her whole life. I took a picture with her and she was trying to "fake" kiss me on the cheek haha.

I love the work and I don't want it to end anytime soon. Love all of you!

Elder Nelson 孙长老

A huge cup of fruit, from a fruit cart that I have been trying to buy my whole mission. They finally decided to open another day than Sunday! Our HUGE English Class, 
Margaret trying to kiss me haha😆

Tag Pic: Huge Squid at this Chinese Market we go to

This week Ben met a woman named Matza who they have started giving the lessons to, so we are excited to hear more about her. 

The boys are in a trio which Ben says can be really scary and intimidating for the cute little Chinese women when they start walking up to them to go talk to them. They were out in the evening and noticed this Chinese woman walking with her mom. They started trying to catch up to them and they kept looking back almost wondering if the Elders were going to mug them, lol but they caught up to them and Ben quickly diffused the situation and put her at ease when he started speaking Chinese. I think all worry goes out the window and they all start wondering how this white kid knows their language so well. Her name was Ja Ching and Ben said she has the cutest little 4 yr, old girl. They tried to talk to her for a bit about the gospel, but the little girl doesn't know English yet so she just talked their ears off. LOL😁 They are hoping that they can meet with her again because she seemed interested. 

This week at church was in Ben's words...FANTASTIC which you always love to hear! They had brought a new investigator with them named Sissy. They also had all of their converts there in Gospel Principles. The teacher, Lily Jung asked, "What are your experiences since you have been baptized. What have you seen with the Holy Ghost and how you have come to know these things are true." Ben is looking around at all these people he has baptized and thinking, "WOW, I have been with you since day one, and you..." It was a really neat experience for him to be hearing them testify of the gospel and knowing he was able to be there since the beginning.  

Of course, he took a moment to talk about how close he is to coming home, yet he feels like he could stay out there forever. He is loving the work, he and Elder Crowther are doing great and getting along amazing and of course, Ben is always working on his Chinese, LOL😂  

Tale As Old As Time

Grind, Grind and Grind Some More...

Hello Everyone! 

This week was a bit more of a difficult one yet filled with many mighty miracles. I don't have a lot to talk about this week but I will give you a slight rundown.

This week our Stake put on the play "Beauty and the Beast". I was surprised at how good it was. They spent 1000's of dollars and it was really well done. It brought in 100's of non-members and we had tons of Chinese people who came. Many are now planning to meet with us this week to learn more about our church. 

We were paused (people who no longer want to meet with us) by about 90% of our teaching pool on Saturday which was not fun. I just started laughing because I was in disbelieve. However, we have been blessed with many new families who want to meet and learn more.

This was for sure our trial week but after trials come the miracles, if endured well. I love this Gospel and hope my mission never ends (Sorry Mom). Love all of you and I wish you all the best of weeks! 
Elder Nelson 孙长老

Elder Stokley, Ben, Elder Crowther

This week was a little difficult for the boys. As Ben said, they lost a bunch of prospects, which was hard for them when you are working so hard. But like he said, "when things are hard, God is about to give you something GREAT!"
The Beauty and Beast production that Ben spoke of was AMAZING! As he said in his recording, "they went hard in the paint"🤣 which I am guessing means ALL OUT. Lol
They pretty much transformed the gym into the castle and went all out on decorations. They were hoping to have a lot of non-members come but did not anticipate the amount that would show up. They planned for about 680 people and they ended up having over 1100 show up,😲and they had to turn away about 150. Just CRAZY. 
They were not allowed to proselyte but they were there to answer any questions people may have. The boys ended up having a few people interested and were able to set up some appointments. 
On Sunday Ben was able to teach a lady named Sissy. She is a painter by profession and a teacher. She was wondering if she was going to see her Father again so they met at her studio and taught her some of the lessons. 
The boys are doing well and getting along great! They love each other and their mission. One of their favorite things still is hearing other Asians talk smack about them in Chinese and then Ben and Elder Crowther will walk up and start speaking to them in their language. He says they ALWAYS look amazed and start apologizing for what they have said and then ask how they know Chinese. LOL 😆
Ben is loving to be back in Eastvale and his back is getting better and better. Like he said, "God still wants me out working". 
We had the opportunity to see Elder Willes come home. It was so nice to give the Elder a hug who has been such an influence on my son and who spent so much time with him.  We are so thankful for his service, not only to the Lord but to our son as well! 

What A Week

So it's Labor day... So I don't have access to a computer. 

Here is the update on a super busy week! First things first the companionships are Elder Crowther, Stolle and Me. Elder Stolle is Elder Crowthers trainee. He is a great kid with a large desire to do the work. Then it is Elder Lai and Johnson in there English/Chinese area.

We had a very busy first week back in Eastvale. 

We taught a new family! Their names are Rita and Ian and they have 2 kids. They messaged me on Wechat wanting to find a church. We set up a time that we could meet. They are great and have a large desire to come unto Christ. They took a date for baptism on 9/23!

We also were able to teach a less active family by the names of Hu's. They have 8 children and number 9 on the way... We taught the oldest 4 who are baptismal age. Great lesson and we played lots of fun games to keep them focused. It was such a great experience to see this family coming back to their Savior!

We were also able to visit with Shanon, she was so happy haha. I was so glad to see her and catch up with her! She plans to get her endowments out in October!!!

Overall it has been such a busy week, these are just a few of the things that are going on. I am a District Leader again and will probs finish my mission as one. So I have to give training every week now!

My back is getting better slowly. I have been stretching a lot and I am confident that I will be good by the time I go home. The Lord has blessed me and I am so glad to be back to work!

Love you guys

Elder Nelson 孙长老