Livin' The Thug Life

Short & Sweet
Hey GUYS! 
This week it's back to me and Elder Crowther hitting the wild streets of California. I'd like to simply share some awesome things that happened with some amazing people. 

First- was a family me and Elder Willes had knocked a door a long time ago. A family of 3 answered and we got to know them a little bit. They said they're looking for a church and would love to try ours out. We gave them the info and prayed they would come! They didn't come... So the next week we stopped by and asked if they had 10 mins we could help them understand more about our Church. They said not right now. But don't worry we are more than willing to come we will see you Sunday! Of course they didn't come. So me and Elder Willes stopped trying with them and moved on. Then, this last Sunday they randomly show up way in the back! I was planning on talking to them after Sacrament to help them understand what is happening, but then 30 mins in they left!!! I was quite sad. I didn't get to talk to them. Then yesterday me and Elder Crowther were in their neighborhood setting up fliers for English class. I felt very, veryyyy prompted to knock their door. Now this would be the 3rd time so I was extremely apprehensive to do so. We prayed for like 25 mins on the plan of action. I just kept getting the feeling-GO FOR IT! I ask Elder Crowther what he is thinking and he says the same thing! So we just go for it! I'm greeted by Lily (the wife) who was very very nice to me. They explained that their headsets were broken so they had no translation and wanted to be in better clothing for church than what they were wearing. I begin to explain and solve concerns. We tell them our purpose is to help you understand these things better and how they will bless you. With a big grin on her face she says, "Here is my number. Please call me tomorrow to see when we can meet!" Tender mercy right there! I will keep you updated on their progress!  
2nd Experience (sorry very long) 
A long time back we had taught a mother by the name of Echo. She seemed quite uncomfortable during the lesson and when we got to giving her a Book of Mormon she rejected it. She said she didn't really believe what we were teaching her and would pray about it... She said, "I will let you know in the future if I am interested." So not a very good lesson, however as we were leaving a park one day after contacting some Chinese families, we spotted Echo! I was not exactly excited to turn the car around to go talk to her, yet I felt quite a strong prompting to do so. We flip around and go talk to her. I simply asked how she had been an reinvited her to English class. She said, "Thank you. If I have time I will be there." I didn't expect to see her, but on Friday she actually attended our English Class again for the first time in over a month! She seemed different and very excited to be there. We then shared our spiritual message at the end announcing a Church Tour. She asked very nicely if she could come? This about blew me over because last time she rejected us pretty hard core. We said of course we would love to see you there! The time for the Church Tour came and she called to cancel... however announced she would come to church the following day! On Sunday we see Echo walk in with her little daughter and they sat right next to us! They loved church and were planning on meeting with us later this week to learn once more! 
Amazing things really do happen when you follow the spirit! Hope all of you had a great week, LOVE YA 

Elder Nelson 孙长老 

Back With This Thug😉

I love hearing in Ben's voice how much he loves serving with each of the companions he has had. I worried so much about that knowing he was only probably ever going to have 2 maybe 3 companions his whole mission. You pray as a Mother that they like each other...LOL Gratefully it has!😀

When Ben was first out on his mission and ran into the never ending trial of "pausing" people, (that is when they have investigators tell them they are no longer interested in hearing the gospel)😕 he would feel pretty bumbed out. But he explained that their first night together back as a companionship, they had 6 families pause on them. Usually he would feel deflated, but he talks about how he knows that it's OK and that just means that there are other people out there being prepared to hear the gospel.  

Ben bore his testimony about having the experience again with Echo this week and how it has been a true testament that Heavenly Father has as plan for each of us and how important it is to follow the spirit no matter how awkward it may seem at the time. 

He ended with sharing how these AMAZING experiences happen daily for them and how each one of them has taught him to trust in the Lord and just follow His promptings and great things can happen!♥♥♥

So....That Just Happened

Change Ups!
Another super hot week out in Riverside!

This week has been pretty regular up until the weekend which was quite crazy! 

We started Saturday off by dropping off Sister Bao's Baptism certificate right before she left for China. We are going to miss her so much! We then headed over and taught a new family. The husbands name is Johnson and the wife is Susie. They are both super super nice and we are very excited for them! After that we went through out the rest of the day and finished off with transfer calls.

Transfer calls are to tell us what changes are happening in the District and where everyone is going!

Elder Willes (my companion) will actually be going English and becoming a Zone Leader in Hemet! We didn't expect that at all! I also got the call to be a District Leader. I'm very excited for the opportunity to have a leadership position! 

Then on Sunday we had Apple, Jacky and Shanon at church. They are all such amazing people. Jacky is planned to be baptized this upcoming Sunday so please keep him in your prayers! 

This week wasn't too crazy but lots of upcoming changes. Me and Elder Crowther are going to continue to work super hard out here!!

Love you all!! 

Elder Nelson 孙长老

Sister Bai Jie Mei Baptism Certificate

 

Ben with "Donkey" from Shrek! 😉

The Best Things Happen Unexpectedly

As a missionary Mom there isn't a moment that goes by that I don't miss my son. Some weeks are a little easier while some days it's all you can do to try not to cry all day long.
Then...a little tender mercy comes in the form of a text. A pic with your son and some of his homies! (as Ben calls them😁)

Elder Crowther, Ben, Elder Porrazzo, Elder Gulbranson

Jurupa Zone

I have NO IDEA who this person is, but they send me random pictures of them having my son and some of the Elders over to their home. The message is this:

"We had your son for dinner and I just wanted to let you know he is a fabulous missionary and we love having him in our area! Thank you for sharing him with us!" 

What a blessing it is to have such good people to look out for your son while he is away serving the Lord.

Speechless Miracles

Hello my wonderful people mostly from Utah!

I'm going to attempt to summarize one of the most amazing and stressful weeks I've ever had on my mission!

We are going to start with last Sunday. Sister Bao told us she would be returning to China this Wednesday. We were so sad to see her go, but had full faith in her to stay on the path to her Father in Heaven.

Monday: 

We receive a call from Sister Bao around 7:00am informing us that she will be leaving on Aug 13 now (Saturday)! We continue to talk to her and get on the subject of Baptism. We ask her directly, "Sister Bao, would you like to be baptized"? She pauses for a moment (longest seconds of my life).  She says, "Yes, Yes I would like that very much". Me and Elder Willes are frozen with joy! We begin to explain how excited we are for her, and explain what it will take for her to be baptized on Sunday Aug 6th. She fully agrees to meet with us everyday and said she will do whatever it takes!

Then NOT 20 MINS LATER! Jacky calls us to say he wants to be baptized on Aug 20th!! We got hit with those 2 things in rapid succession! Me and Elder Willes are losing are minds! What an amazing Monday! 

As for the rest of the week, we met with Sister Bao every single day to catch her up and help her be ready for baptism! We found a group for her to go out to when she gets back to China! So she was all set and ready to go! Every lesson we taught her, she loved and understood very quickly she was so prepared for everything!

We went and saw Jacky on Wednesday to talk to him about his date and he made us both HUGE sushi rolls, since he is a sushi chef! He is very committed to his date and is also willing to progress towards it! Love that guy so much! 

Then jumping to Sunday the big day! I wake up as sick as I have ever been! I got one of my terrible migraines that put me over and I was throwing up sooo much. I was so frustrated that this had to happen on the day of her Baptism. I laid down accepting I was going to miss it, and just prayed til I finally fell asleep. I woke up at 3:00p (time of the baptism) and felt completely fine! I rushed up and got ready still quite sick however and went to the baptism! I got there just in time to see Sister Bao smiling as she was baptized! 

Yet another amazing miracle I was able to go. She came up to me after and said, "I have been praying for you over and over you could come!" 

What an amazing week! I'm going to miss her so much and thank you for all the prayers! 

The pics with Sister Bao. I came late so I took a pic after her baptism and I'm super pale lol! 

Elder Nelson 孙长老

Ben, Jacky and Elder Willes

When Ben gives us more detail from his week on his recording it always makes me smile because he gives us those details from his journal. He was pretty adamant that he wouldn't use his journal since he didn't really write in one before he left, so it makes me sooo happy to hear that he will have memories to read and look back on later on in his life.

This week Ben had the AMAZING opportunity to try something called "Bowl of Stinky Tofu". Brother Miao loves to give them really good food and then likes to have them try some questionable food, just to watch them squirm. His description of this entree is hilarious. 😂

"It smells and tastes just like you spread someone's butt cheeks and rubbed your face in it!" Hahahaha

Right after that they went and met with Jacky who made them TONS of sushi. He shared a dream that he saw his dog and that he ended up abandoning it. The 2nd part of the dream was that he was fighting an animal and he didn't know what that was about. When he woke he explained to Ben and Elder Willes that he believes that the dream meant that he was going to abandon his sins and be baptized. That was Jacky's "conversion" to be baptized. So more on that to come. 

Ben had the opportunity to go "seeking with faith" in the English part of the mission. He is now being able to help train and teach the new missionaries that come out on how to talk to people and invite people to hear the lessons. 

They felt prompted to stop and talk to this family, which they thought was someone else, but asked if they could share a message. The Dad has named himself "Jo-rel", the father of Superman, which is hilarious. LOL They ended up having a really good lesson with this family but realized they were at the wrong house. When they finished they went to where they were suppose to be and the man there said he was no longer interested. Ben shared with us how listening to the spirit has really helped him on his mission find those people that the Lord has prepared, like the family they "accidentally" went and taught.

Listening to my son share his experience of being sick the day of Sister Bao's baptism is heartbreaking and inspiring. He shares how deathly ill he was. In his words:

"Sunday morning comes. I don't get sick very often but when I do...it's bad! I woke up with a little headache that turned into a full blown migraine. It gave me a terrible stomachache too. I thought to myself, This cannot happen today, please not today on Sister Bao's baptism day. I am hosed, I get annihilated I am so sick. I get in the shower, I am so weak, I am losing depth perception, I am losing feeling in my hands and I start to tear up and think, Please, Please, Please not today. I cannot miss this miracle baptism. 

I had the Elders come over and give me a blessing and I am just getting worse. I start throwing up and I'm like dang it, you've got to be kidding me. So I decide to stay home from sacrament meeting but I am determined to go to that baptism no matter how sick I am . Elder Peraz stayed back with me while Elder Willes and Elder Gulbranson went to church. Elder Peraz is super sweet, just getting me anything and everything I could need. I am throwing up like crazy. I threw up over 10 times in 1 hour. I am dying. We get on the phone with the nurse who tells us, "I don't care about companionship's right now. I want you to go by yourself and get him some Excedrin." He comes back with it and she tells me to suck on it. I do and throw it up. She asks me to do it again, I throw it up again. We are 30 minutes away from the baptism and I have nearly given up about being able to go. I had been praying for 3 hours, please let me go to this baptism. I cannot miss this. I want to be there to support Sister Bao before she goes back to China. I fall asleep and I wake up about 2:55p and my stomach is just fine. I sipped a little coke and get ready to go. I am far from feeling OK, but I bolt to the church and I get there just in time to see her smile as she is going into get baptized. The Lord healed me JUST ENOUGH to be able to watch her be baptized and confirmed. I was able to hear her bear her testimony on the gospel and how she is going to endure to the end no matter what and how me and Elder Willes are true representatives of the Lord. It was AMAZING! 

I was lucky enough to take a picture with her even though I look like Casper the Friendly Ghost and blessed just enough to do the Lords work for that day!"

Sister Bao Ji Lei Baptism

"Stinky Tofu"

  

🎶 Happy Happy 🎂Birthday🎂 From All Of Us To You...🎶

Crikey Asians (Crocodile Hunters voice)

This week was very fun, full of Chinese people doing what Chinese people.

To start this email off I'm going to give you a run down of what we do for seeking, in California. We are in a unique situation being that the majority of the population is Caucasian. So we're pretty much bound to driving to parks and "Racial Profiling". We know where ever park is in our area and we drive to all of them to see if we can find anyone. So picture this...2 dudes driving a silver Corolla very slowly through a park. We both proceed to lift up our sunglasses for better vision obviously, aggressively staring at everyone in the park to see if they are Chinese or not.

Now there are few things to knowing if they are Chinese:

1. Are the parents exercising (Swinging arms side to side), or stretching?

2. There tends to be a large pack of them.

3. The parents are having more fun on the swings than their children are.

These are all things that help us find those Chinese people we love so much. I thought you guys would be curious as to how we find Chinese people in Southern California. 

This week however was quite fun. I had my Birthday on Tuesday! I received many great gifts and I'm thankful for all the love that was sent my way. Mission Birthdays are quite different but still quite exciting! 

We taught 2 new people on my Birthday with both very sweet names! 

First was Rono she is about our age and was very curious about our church since another member family took her to church. She had tons of questions and was very fun to teach. We hope that we will be able to teach her again since she will be going to college very quick!

Then we taught later in the evening, a lady by the name of "Apple", (I love the names that Chinese people come up with), always entertaining.  She had a very good lesson except her son "Thunder"( Yes Thunder) was quite crazy so it was a little hard to teach her.

Skipping all the way to Friday after English Class, I had a good conversation with Sister Bao, one of our investigators. She randomly said to me that she wants to be baptized, because she has felt the spirit so much! 

Then at Church on Sunday she said she will be leaving for China in a week... So we kindof panicked and the lesson was one Baptism. She expressed she feels ready to be baptized but her daughter keeps talking her out of it... So she may or may not be baptized this Sunday we will all know soon enough! Keep her in your prayers she is amazing and has such a pure heart! 

That's enough for you guys! Hope you all had a great week, 我愛你們!!!!!

Elder Nelson 孙长老

Birthday Package

Love these 2 and their smiles 😀

The sticker that made Ben's Day!

Tough Times Don't Last...Tough People Do

Where has the time gone??

Hello my lovely friends from all over the place! 

This week has been kind of rough but hey, you can't always have everything perfect right?? 

Me and Elder Willes have been working super hard and were not about to slow down, we both have a huge desire to do the work and want to master this language! 

The week really doesn't have to many exciting things to talk about other than Sunday.

We only had 3 investigators at church, which is dumb of me to say because our mission average is 1 so we're still doing quite well. We had Chinese sacrament and I sat by our one investigator by the name of Guangwen Bao. She is so curious and has asked me and Elder Willes multiple times what she has to do so she can go on a mission lol. However, she is very difficult to understand. By far the most difficult I have ran into on the mission. So it is always way fun to talk to her and muscle through conversations. 

We ran into an amazing family after church. We actually knocked their door and met the whole family. They are so sweet and we hope to teach them in the following weeks to come! I will keep you posted.  We're so blessed right now and I have nothing to complain about! 

Tomorrow is my birthday which is insane to think, time is flying by so fast. I felt like I had just started my mission yesterday in the MTC not understanding a word my teachers were saying to me!

However, such is mission life and I will keep you posted what a mission birthday is like! 

Love you all very much and I hope you have a very fantastic week.

Here is a picture with me and my favorite Asian by the name of Rocky, he is flippin HUGE!!! 

Elder Nelson 孙长老

The Rocky and Ben Gun Show😀

One of the reasons I insisted on Ben taking a recorder is for weeks like this. In an email you can fake how you are feeling and how life is going, but not in a recording. I can hear it in my son's voice how he is doing. Tired, happy, sad, sick, excited etc... It helps me know how to pray for him more specifically. I know some weeks can be hard for him to fit in a recording but it sure helps ease this Momma's heart. 

This week he sounded a little down, still positive, but beaten down a little. Listening more to him and the events of the week it has just been one of those times where life likes to throw everything at you all at once. Even though they have had a few hang ups the Lord has blessed them with some "tender mercies" to help ease the inevitable trials of mission life. 

One funny thing is Ben is always called "Niánqīng yīngjùn (Young Handsome Meat) by the Chinese people and when the members in the English ward found out they have decided to call him that name from now on! LOL So anytime they call on him they don't call him Elder Nelson, they call him....        

"Niánqīng yīngjùn" 

I LOVE IT!♥♥♥

Xǐlǐ (Baptism)

This week was a special one for sure! I just ♥love♥ Chinese people.

I'm going to start on Wednesday since I emailed y'all on Tuesday.

Wednesday: 
I went to an English area for the day which is always fun! California+White people always guarantees you something interesting! We had lots of appts. planned that all fell through so we just walked all day in 104° weather- the usual! Right as our day was about to end we contacted this guy who informed me John Smith (Joseph Smith) when he went into the grove of trees was visited by aliens who transported to the west.... I was informed by him that I need to "open my eyes" and that not everything is as you see it! Awwhhhh good o'l white people! 

Thursday: 
Our first interviews with our new President. He is soooo loving. He just makes you want to become a better person! He made it very clear he is going to do his best to help us in our situation since there is only 2 of us! He wants us have the most help he can can give. Great guy all around.

Friday: 
Very fun day! I'm going to just skip to English class. Our English class has grown quite a bit over the months. When I first came into the area we had 2 people coming. Now, as of Friday we had 22+ people there! Very fun to teach all of them. I'll do my best to get a picture next time. We separate the class into simple English and "Harder" English. I teach the harder class and Willes does the simple side. We had so many people there, it can be quite overwhelming LOL.

After class we usually teach some lessons since a lot of our investigators come to English class. Right after class Elder Willes began to teach 2 new people that were interested. While I had planned to teach Jacky, I ran all over the place helping him find a parking spot. Then Michael our other investigator out of nowhere showed up to be taught. So Elder Willes cut his short and taught Jacky while I went and taught Michael! Some how we pulled it off. LOL

Saturday: 
We had a blitz, which is when all of the missionaries in your Zone go to one area and help a specific companionship. It was a cool 103° outside so that was fun! Again, I'm going to skip to the highlight of the day! 

We got to teach one of my favorite people again, Guns. We taught him, his wife Anna, Grace and Sister Bao! We taught the Plan of Salvation and they loved it! After teaching the Atonement part of the lesson, I invited them to be baptized. Grace and Sister Bao huddled as did Guns and his wife. Grace explained that this is very new to her and her mom and that they would like to learn for a bit longer before accepting a date. So we turned to Guns and his wife and they said they would love to! Guns said, "Ever since you guys have been coming you have planted a seed in me and my wife that hasn't stopped growing and we love it!" It was a great lesson. We invited them to church the following day and said they would be there!

Sunday: 
Great day! We had 5 Investigators at church. Guns' whole family came to church! He was in a white shirt and tie and dress slacks. They already looked like members and my heart leaped out of my chest! After Church we had Christine's Baptism. I'm so glad I played apart in teaching that fireball. She is so funny and I'm so excited for her path she is starting! It was a great baptism and many of our investigators came too! 

We are so busy right now and have over 22 investigators. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers! 

Wo Ai Nimen! 

Elder Nelson 孙长老

Christine's Baptism 

I haven't had a recording from Ben in awhile so when he sent one this week, it made my whole ♥ happy to hear his voice!

He started out speaking Chinese to us and I cannot believe how GREAT he sounds! He has come sooo far with the language which makes me feel relieved. It has been one of his biggest worries/struggles because of his desire to be able to convey the lessons and his excitement about the Gospel. So to hear him speaking it so well...YAY!

Ben told us a little more about Shanon (she is the one who has her son on a mission in Boston). She basically ready to be baptized but is struggling with the tea part of the WOW. They seem to run into this problem a lot seeing as how tea is a HUGE part of the Asian culture. Hopefully they will be able to help her through that and we can see those baptism pics soon!

Ben recounted the experience with the guy who swears that "John Smith" (Joseph Smith) was abducted by aliens and flown to the west. Ben told the guy that he thought his version was cool and that I'm sure Joseph Smith would've actually enjoyed an experience like that, but that is not really the way it happened. They ended up talking to this guy a little more and found out he was in the military for about 20 years. He told them, "You don't really know what you believe in until you watch your friend stick his head out of a trench and get his head blown off and you wonder if you have the faith to stick your head out and start shooting back at people. Many of the men next to me are drawing crosses on their chests. In those moments you really start pondering what you believe in." 

He is not Ben's investigator, but he wants to try to keep updated with him, so hopefully more to come on that. 

Ben had his first interview with his new Mission President, Hammon. He asked Ben to bear his testimony in English and he really struggled. He isn't use to doing it in English so they got a kick out of him trying to do it. 

He talked to them about their investigators being the best in the mission right now and for them to keep up the good work. It's not about numbers, it's about the people. 

He asked Ben if he had anything he wanted to talk about with him and Ben asked him about tablets!! LOL

Tablets would make a HUGE difference with the language barrier they have. There are a lot of tools they can use to help their investigators understand what they are trying to teach them. Plus it would help with any teaching records they can share between missions.  

My boy told us that he is 172 right now! He left at 156! He told us not to worry. He is not fat or a cow, and that he still has some of his abs. Hahaha! He is working out a lot so he assures us that he is "stocky" and getting built. LOL 😏

If you remember awhile back Ben and Elder Willes baptized and became really good friends with Hank and Tina. He spoke to them and they told him that they are going to go on Trek! He is so happy for them to be able to experience an adventure like that! I am hoping to get more info on that! 

He talks about having dinner at one of the members houses named Sunny Ling. She was baptized about a year ago and she REFUSES to speak Chinese. They have tried to get her to speak to them, but she won't. Most of the Chinese people that don't want to speak their native language to them eventually give up knowing they can talk to them but not Sunny! Ben feels really bad for her because not knowing English that well and refusing to speak to them in Chinese is really hurting her spiritual progression. She will only attend the English part of church and doesn't understand what they are talking about. They had Elder Gulbranson and Elder Paraz teach her a spiritual message and she wasn't even sure how the Holy Ghost worked. They asked her about reading the scriptures and how she feels when she reads them. She said she always feels really good so they explained that is the Holy Ghost testifying to you that they are true. She started crying and expressed to them that she thought Heavenly Father didn't love her because he never sent His Holy Ghost to  

help her and she thought that she was promised that from her baptism. It broke Ben's heart to hear her not know that He loved her. They are hoping they can help her understand more of what she has been taught. 

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