12 Months in T-minus 2 days

Hola, 

Two quick experiences from this week:

1. Sunday I got to play the piano in Sacrament meeting, which is a first on my Mission. Midday saturday, the first counselor in the bishopric called us up and asked if I could play. Never turn down an opportunity to serve so I said yes. I wasn't the best, the first hymn was horrendous,and I only played the right hand for all the hymns, but it all went well and we had live music for the meeting.   

2. We are teaching the daughter of some members that just turned 9, to get her ready for her baptism. I think I finally know what my parents felt like during Family Home Evenings when my sibling and I were kids. Teaching here is like herding cats, she is all over the place, can't sit still. However she is learning the material, it just goes to show the spirit is truly the best teacher.    

This week on the 29th, I will hit my one year mark as a missionary. These 12 months have just flown by. I feel like I just got here, however now I´ll be officially dying in my mission.  To celebrate the occasion the rest of my letter will be my Dad's Mission halfway point Q/A. 

Missionary Q&A:

FOOD / LOCAL FLAVOR

1. What food have you eaten that you never thought you’d eat?

Panza, it is stomach. Just the tissue of the organ in a broth. I'm not sure if what I had was from a pig or cow. It is a somewhat popular dish here in México.

2. Favorite place to eat outside of home / apartment?

The members here are the best and feed us everyday, so we don't have the opportunity to eat out a lot. So... Members' houses.

3. Favorite member food / most frequent?

My favorite food here is mole in whatever form: Enchiladas, just as a sauce, it doesn't matter. The most frequent food I think we get is tacos dorados or pechuga de pollo 

4. What meal have you learned to cook in the field?

I haven't learned to cook a ton of meals but my skill with making quesadillas has greatly improved.

5. What is your favorite local place, holiday observance, and/or game?

This is a hard one. I love visiting the old catholic churches. If we ever need a chill place to pass the time, their gardens are always a win. All the holidays are great fun, even local saint celebrations.My favorite game is "Conquián'' it's a card game that uses a spanish deck.   

6. How is the weather?

Now in the summer it is a lot of rain, and when it isn't raining tons of sun. The winter is colder but rarely did I need a jacket. 

7. What is the most popular street food?

Tacos al pastor. 

8. Is the water potable? How is the water heated?

The water isn´t potable. It is heated either with a gas boiler or an immersion heater.    

9. What do you do for transport? Any unusual transport options (ferry, gondola, etc.)?

Buses, Peseros, mototaxi (motorcycle towing a carriage) 

10. Favorite local sports team?

I´ll leave this one blank, it's too contentious here in Mexico City

MISSION

1. Biggest surprise between the MTC and mission field?

The lack of structure. CCM (MTC) has a set schedule, here in the field it's a wake up time and a bedtime, the rest is up to you. 

2. Favorite book or chapter in scriptures (not verse or volume)?

I love the fourth chapter of 2nd Nephi, it is Nephi's testimony of the Savior and the Atonement. I also really like the Book of Mormon in the Book of Mormon  

3. Biggest difference in expectations from pre mission to now?

How tiring the mission can be, I knew it would be hard work, but some days I'm just exhausted

4. Favorite article of mission clothing?

My mission bag. 

5. How has being on a fixed budget changed the way you shop?

I'm a lot less adventurous of a shopper, I can't try everything that I would want to.  

6. What one mission approved item (tool, photo, gadget) do you wish you brought on your mission?

I'm not sure but I have been asked a few times for a screwdriver so i'll go with that. 

7. What hymn have you grown to love while serving?

There are two: 281 "Help Me Teach with Inspiration" and 240 "Know This, That Every Soul Is Free"

HABITS

1. Best thing done at church (unique lesson style or activity, etc) we should incorporate in our local meetings?

I don´t know, Covid hit so hard here that we still haven't completely gone back to normal. One thing that has been fun is in some units the linger-longer are much more of a meal, tables and everything. 

2. Which homemaking skill do you wish you’d learned before serving (laundry, cooking, bike maintenance, sewing, etc)? Be specific.

Hand washing clothes. I have been lucky and most of my areas have had: a washer, lavandería, or a member. It's not that hard but I wish I knew the secret to the trade before I got here.

3. What is a new habit you have developed as a missionary?

Before the mission I wasn't the best at scripture study. I have gotten much better at it, and really enjoy reading the scriptures. Another one is when I hang my shirts up I always fasten the top button to keep the collar nice and avoid creases.   

4. What did you think you’d miss most that you have not ended up missing at all?

Video Games. Once I got here and started working they just kind of faded into the background. 

5. What one habit or skill you learned at home or in your home ward has made a difference in your mission?

How to lead music. I have used it more here than anything else. 

6. What is a habit you have given up on your mission which will improve your life post mission?

Going to bed late. Before the mission, going to bed felt like I was letting the day win, but here I just can't wait to get my ZZZs. 

Hasta La Próxima, 

ELder Neilson

 

Alcaldía Tláhuac sign 

Popocatépetl and Ixtaccíhuatl

Exchange with my Mamá

 ¡Hola!

I hope everyone is doing great, this week has just flown by. Elder Vega mentioned that having P-day on tuesday makes that whole week move faster and I have to agree, or it's just because we are both getting old in the Mission. 

The week started off with Zone conference on Wednesday. Zone conference was shorter than it normally is because we had both conferences on one day not the normal two. It was a great conference. I learned a lot, and came away with things to improve. 

Saturday we had a great day, we walked a ton visiting members the entire afternoon. We got to visit one member that has been sick and more or less bedriden for the past 8 years. We visited him my second day here in Tlaltenco, and the progress I saw in his health was amazing. He has so much more energy and even said that he started walking with the help of a walker. A huge miracle!

Sunday I had a fun experience. For the past two week I have been leading the music in Sacrament Meeting, so I was sitting on the stand during the sacrament. Near the end of the ordinance the first counselor in the bishopric came over to me and asked If I could give the final talk in that sacrament meeting. I´ll never turn down an opportunity to serve, but short notice is not my favorite. I was able to use the Book of Mormon Talk I gave in San Pablo and it all worked out great. I was stressed out of my mind for a second though. We also had one investigator show up to Church who hasn't come for the past couple of weeks. It was great to meet him and we got to share a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation after Church. 

Monday we had exchanges with our Zone Leaders, I was originally going to stay here in Tlaltenco, but we made a last minute change so I ended up going to Presidentes and working with my trainer Elder Vega. He was my second trainer and for that reason my Mamá was on the mission. It was great to have that power duo back together. We had a great day and visited a ton of investigators and even got a new investigator on Baptismal date. The end of Transfers was a little crazy as President Lyman asked if we could go to the mission office in Tasqueña for special interviews in the morning. So to end exchanges, P-day  morning, we all meet at the mission offices. It's completely outside of our Zone by a good 30 minutes, and most likely a once in a mission occurrence.

Onto a spiritual note, one thing that I have come to realise more and more on my mission is just how simple and coherent the Gospel is. Everything is centered on Jesus Christ and helping us return to live with God again. Sometimes there are things that we don't understand, but as we study those and learn more about them they click into place and make sense in the greater whole. I have had that happen more times than I can count, when I've been studying the scriptures or Preaching my Gospel. I know that this church is true and when we live the gospel we can return to live with God once again. 

Hasta la Próxima,

Elder Neilson 

A super iridescent green beetle

 more super iridescent green beetle

The Zone conference 

Tlaltenco the third part

 ¡Hola!

Another week down. Time for the highlights!

I said last week that Thursday was going to be a special Zone conference for the mission tour of Elder Ochoa. The thing is, wednesday night that mission tour got canceled as Elder Ochoa got sick. Not to fear it is going to be some time next month. And instead of the Zone Conference, Elder Sánchez and I had exchanges with our district leader. I got to Go back to El Molino, my birthplace (the first area I served in) and work with Elder Pano. They were great exchanges. It was fun to be back in my first area and see some members and what has changed in the past 9 months. The counsel Elder Pano gave me at the end of exchanges is to talk slower in lessons. I guess my Spanish has an inverse relationship between quality and speed.   

Friday was Elder Sánchez's birthday so we had a fun time celebrating that. 

Sunday I got to go to my first War counsel, not just here in Tlaltenco, but in my mission. In the wards where I have been, when I have been there, we were just never invited to join. The funny thing was that we thought it started at 9. It actually started at 8:30, so we showed up a little late. The rest of the day was great, I conducted the music in sacrament meeting. and we had two great lessons that day: one with a investigar right after the second hour and the other was after Lunch with a recent convert, his mother, aunt, and girlfriend. 

One thing that we touched on in one of those lessons was the Atonement, and how there is nothing we can do to repay Christ for his atoning sacrifice. In my Book of Mormon study I came across when king benjamin touches on this perfectly. In Mosiah 2 he says:

21 I say unto you that if ye should serve him who has created you from the beginning, and is preserving you from day to day, by lending you breath, that ye may live and move and do according to your own will, and even supporting you from one moment to another—I say, if ye should serve him with all your whole souls yet ye would be unprofitable servants.

22 And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you.

No matter what we do we will be "unprofitable" it is impossible to repay the Lord for the Atonement, but he doesn't ask us to repay him. He asks us to keep his commandments, and by doing so we show our love for him. It is what Brad Wilcox said in His Grace is Sufficient "We don't earn heaven, we learn heaven." I know that Christ loves us all individually and through his atonement we can overcome the pains and temptations in this world and become like him and our Father in heaven. 

Hasta la Próxima, 

Elder Neilson

Sierra de Santa Catarina  

Mas Ajusco

Ajusco covered in clouds 

Mi buey y yo

On the Shore of the Hills

 Hola, 

Esto va a ser corto. 

First week here in Tlaltenco, I'm getting to know the ward and the area. The Bishopric just changed and they are animated for the work and want to help us a ton! From what I have been told That is a really big change for the area. 

The big thing this week was that we had a baptism.I showed up in the area and the first thing, a baptism, it was great! I never got to teach Cuauhtemoc but it was great to help him make this covenant with the Lord and hear his testimony.

This week we have Zone Conferences and we are having a mission tour by ELder Ochoa of the Mexico area presidency. I'm really looking forward to it. 

To end a new favorite hymn of mine. 240 

Know This, That Every Soul Is Free

1.Know this, that ev’ry soul is free

To choose his life and what he’ll be;

For this eternal truth is giv’n:

That God will force no man to heav’n.

2.He’ll call, persuade, direct aright,

And bless with wisdom, love, and light,

In nameless ways be good and kind,

But never force the human mind.

3.Freedom and reason make us men;

Take these away, what are we then?

Mere animals, and just as well

The beasts may think of heav’n or hell.

4.May we no more our pow’rs abuse,

But ways of truth and goodness choose;

Our God is pleased when we improve

His grace and seek his perfect love.

Hasta la próxima,

Elder Neilson

Me and a Piña

Sierra de Santa Catarina 

Baptism of Cuauhtemoc