A Conference & Service

 Hola todos, 

I hope everyone is doing well, up here in San Pablo it has been pretty good. 

The week stated off with Zone Confrence on Wednesday. It was great. Elder Ituare and I took the Tren Ligero, electric public transport train, up to the mission offices. The conference was great, the theme was, "follow the spirt." One things I learn form it was how the spirt confirms our actions. We need to make choices for ourselves and the spirt will tell us it they are right or wrong. 

Thursday we did some service for an inactive family moving wood. We also went back Monday with some members of our district to help some more. This isn't wood like firewood but basically prefabricated wooden walls that people use here in Mexico to separate rooms. It was a good time, but hard work and a lot of time in the sun. I got a little burned both days. 

The only other note worthy thing was we had exchanges with our District leader. I got to go back to Milpa Alta, and work with Elder Macfarlane. It was a lot of fun. 

This P-day was volleyball and soccer at the  chapel of La Noria. The end of the day was spent at the Mexican national ID office,  as Elder Ituarte lost his ID a couple months ago. He had to do some paperwork to get a new one. 

Hasta la próxima, 

Elder Neilson

Some Cows 

 Ajusco, the tallest mountain in Mexico City 

The Zone + 2 other Elders 

Estadio Azteca

 Hola, 

This week was very chill, so I don't have much to report on. Mostly just calling and visiting people. We had a few very good lessons and I have a good felling about some of our new investigators. 

The big news is that José, who I have been teaching for the past 3 months, and the missionaries for 5 before that, had his baptismal interview this past Sunday and he passed. This Saturday we are going to have his baptism. This has been a long time in the making. The members have really been waiting, on Sunday he thanked the Sunday School teacher, she responded with "no need, but you can thank me by getting baptized." We found it pretty funny 

This letter is on a Monday, not a Tuesday that is because we changed our p-day to take a tour of Estadio Azteca, the largest stadium in Latin  America, with another set of missionaries in our Zone. It has a capacity of 95,000 people but it is limited to around 87,000. We got to go onto the pitch, (we weren't allowed to step onto field) and into the locker-room of Club America. It was epic.  

This week I studed the topic of "God is our Loving Heavenly Father" It is the first principle talked about in Preach My Gospel. I really liked what is says in the first paragraph "He loves us. He understands and feels our sorrows and rejoices in our progress." To me this truth is one of the most exquisite of the restored gospel, that we are really children of a loving Heavenly Father and that he is invested in our progress. I forget who's quote this is but I think it is apt "There is nothing more removed than creator and creation." We are more more just the creations of God, we are his children. 

Hasta la próxima, 

Elder Neilson 

 The pressroom 

 In the locker-room 

On the pitch 

The elders in our district 

 Elder Ituarte and I made burgers for lunch

 I forgot this last week, the Branches 1 year  Conference 

x

Officially San Pablo

 Buen día, 

Sorry for no email last, p-day was a little crazy.

A brief overview of the week I missed: we got transfer news, Elder Mangus is leaving and I'm staying. Also elder mangus had his birthday. It was a chill week so not to much to tell. 

Monday the 7th was transfers. We get to the office and I got jumped with the surprise news that I'm moving up to San Pablo, the 2nd area we have been covering. My new companion is Elder Ituarte, he is from Tiajuana, speaks English and spanish, and is a super solid Elder. He was the companion of my district leader last transfer so it was a little funny when the APs told us we were companions. The rest of Monday I showed the new Milpa Alta elders the area. We couldn't go directly to San Pablo as I had to pack all my stuff up. 

Tuesday the 8th: I packed up all my things showed the Milpa Alta a little more of the area, and finally Elder Ituarte and I made it up to San Pablo, and moved into the house. However for the next 4 hours we were waiting for the Uber with all of our bags to arrive. Milpa Alta has very few Ubers and that are all small sadans so we went in one and our bags got sent in another. The house in San Pablo isn't the best, and the best part was none of the windows had curtains. We have gotten that mostly sorted out now, gratefully. 

This week has been full of contacting the investigators here in San Pablo, I knew a few but there are a ton I don't. We have also been to a ton of places I haven't been to before here in San Pablo.

Here in la cuidad de México (Mexico City) the members feed us lunch everyday, it one of had things that I'm super grateful for. But as there haven't been missionaries in San Pablo for 3 mounths the members weren't signed up to feed us. The relief society president said not to worry and feed us 5 days in a row. It was above and beyond and I'm super grateful for her. 

The last big piece of news is that Sunday was the branches, branch conference. It was a fantastic meeting. The Stake Presedent gave his goal of having the San Pablo Branch be a Ward in the next two years. I really hope it happens, and hope I can do my part to make it come to fruition. 

To end, this P-day we met up with the District to play soccer at the Deportivo in Xochimilco, it was a great time. 

That all folks, 

Elder Neilson 

Old Zone 

The view of the city form San Pablo: at night, dusk, and in the morning 

Elder Ituatre and I 

Elder Mangus's birthday 

AstraZeneca

 ¿Qué Onda?

This week started off with Interviews with President Lyman on Wednesday. It was great to get counsel from him about the work, and how to help our investigators here in Milpa Alta. 

Thursday afternoon we made it up to San Salvador for my first time. It is a pueblito that is up at 9,000 ft over in the San Pablo Branch. We had an in person lesson with an investigator scheduled, so after 2 month of being here we finally had a reason to take the hour long bus ride up all the way up there. It is really high up in the mountains and gives you a great view of the rest of the city from just its main street. The only sad part was that our investigator cancelled on us, so we had to just take a bus back. 

Friday the entire mission went to get the Covid booster shot, and Elder Mangus and I had Exchanges with the APs (Elder Perry and Elder Erickson). As we had to be at the La Noria chapel at 5:30 am, and Milpa Alta is an hour alway, the Zone leaders invited us to sleep at their house, which is only 30 minutes aways. We still had to get up at 4:00am on friday, so it wasn't like we got a full night's sleep that we otherwise would not have gotten. After meeting the rest of the Zone at La Noria we took the bus up to Coyaocán. There we met the rest of the mission along with the entire South-east mission and North-west mission. As a group of around 300 missionaries we all walked over to the Naval Academy to get the booster. They had the Navel band playing at a band stand right next to the underground parking lot where we got vaccinated which I thought was cool. President Lyman had told us that we were going to get Moderna, but in the line right before we got it it turned out they had switched it to AstraZeneca. We were a little worried but President said that that is what he got so not to worry. After that while walking out of the parking garage, the music the band was playing was a little more upbeat. To me it sounded like victory! After that we all walked back to our buses, took a mission picture, and left back to our zones. 

However as Elder Mangus and I were having Exchanges with the APs I went with Elder Perry back to the AP´s area Pedregal. The exchange was great, I had a great time working with Eler Perry, but after lunch the vaccine really started to hit us. It started out as just a little ache but it got progressively worse until my entire upper body was dead along with burning up. Elder Perry was hit but we pushed through and taught every lesson that didn't fall. WE went to bed at 9:30, but both couldn't sleep and woke up repeatedly over the next 5 hours. Finally around 2 am we took some Advil and were able to sleep until morning. Saturday morning Elder Perry and I felt much better. It was truly an unforgettable exchange! 

I returned to Milpa Alta Saturday, and Elder Mangus and I went up to San Salvador for a family home evening with some members. Their teenage granddaughter Hannia isn't baptised and has decided to start attending church again, and  wants to be baptised! Which is awesome! We had our first lesson with her Monday morning, and it went great, she is really receptive and open to learn.

That was about it week, 

Elder Neilson

Me with Parroquia de San Salvador Cuauhtenco

The smog from San Salvador 

The dream team 

The Mission at the Vaccines 

An Apostles & Exchanges

 Hola, 

This week started off with our devotional with Elder Renlund. It was a fantastic experience. It was a bit of a surreal experience seeing him in person. I always see the members of the first presidency and quorum of the twelve through a screen. To get to fist bump and be only 20 feet away when he spoke was a super awesome experience. Most of the devotion was dedicated to Elder Renlund and Sister Renlund answering questions we had submitted a week before. I learned a lot and even had questions answered I didn't even know I had! One thing that Elder Renlund said that has stuck with me is "Imperfect people can teach perfect doctrine". It was a great truth. I'm far from perfect but the doctrine I'm teaching is perfect and can change the lives of those I teach. He also shared part of his upcoming April 2022 Conference talk, which was really cool. 

Wednesday we had Exchanges with our Zone leaders. They went great. I went to their area and worked with Elder Basauri. I learned a lot and had some great lessons. During one of them with some inactive members, I got to bear my testimony about the Sacrament and I could feel the spirit testify of what I was saying. Not only to them, but also to me. 

The rest of the week was a lot of contacting people. We have had a lot of lessons fall though so we had to get back in touch with people to get new lessons scheduled. 

Our district leaders. Called us on saturday night and asked to do another exchange. This one on monday. So 2 exchanges in one week! I got to go to Villa Coapa. I worked with Elder Ituarte again. We ended up doing a lot of walking as we tried to visit people without phone numbers. We walked around the area for a good 2 hours trying to find people without any luck. It happens. 

This p-day the Zone got together at La Noria, and played some sports. The usual of Zone Villa Coapa. 

Elder Neilson

Elder Renlund and the Mission

 

Monday?

 Hola, 

Yes P-day is on Monday, but just for this week. We have our devotional with Elder Renlund tomorrow, Tuesday, so p-day was changed. I'm really looking forward to Elder Renlund's devotional and hopefully I will have some great insights to share next week!

On Thursday we had Zone Conference. The theme was "Soldiers of Christ." In the Mission right now we have only 76 missionaries and in  the borders of our mission we have 7 to 9 million people. So we are really outnumbered. We talked a lot about planes and strategies we can implement to be more effective in the work. We also had a safety presentation which was informative but also very entertaining. 

Alfredo has his baptismal interview, he said he didn't feel quite ready. He wants to work on a few things so he feels 100% ready. It was sad to hear but he has a firm testimony, so with a little bit more time, he will be ready. 

This P-day was chill. We bought food and got haircuts, to look fresh for Elder Renlund. 

This week I was reading Joseph Smith's 1830 Vision of Moses (Moses 1). I really like what is now canonized in verse 35 "But only an account of this earth, and the inhabitants thereof, give I unto you. For behold, there are many worlds that have passed away by the word of my power. And there are many that now stand, and innumerable are they unto man; but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them." I really love the last part "but all things are numbered unto me, for they are mine and I know them." This is a truth that I have become more aware of on my mission, God and Christ know each one of us individually and perfectly, "we are his and he knows us." 

Elder Neilson

Haircut

Elder Magus and I

Zone Conference (about half the mission)

The Zone at zone conference

food at a ward activity

Fecha

 Hola,

Another week down. 

This week was not the most eventful so I don't have a ton to report on. 

A big win this week though was we got our investor Alfredo on baptimimal date. Hopefully all goes well.

We also went all over the Area this week, a lot of places I have been very few times. Second time to San Bartolomé and this time during the day so we had some great views.  

The past couple of days have been cloudy up here in Milpa Alta and we got some rain, luckily nothing like what it is during the rainy season. 

It's a short one this week, 

hasta la próxima, 

Elder Neilson  

View from San Bartolomé of San Pedro 

Milpa Alta this p-day morning

Us above San Pedro