Week one of Training

 Hola todos, 

My first week here in Bosques was a little crazy. 

It all started out normal:

Wednesday, district counsel in the morning than a normal day of work

Thursday was again all normal, and we got one of our friends on baptismal date, a great day.

Friday was when it started to get crazy. We had exchanges with the Zone leaders. I went to Contreras with our ZL Elder Michaelis, we had a late start due to weekly planning and a few calls that the ZL's had to make, then getting to Contreras was a long bus ride due to some really bad traffic. Once there we had some studies and then a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation with one of their investigators there. To end we went and visited people, the only thing is that it started to rain cats and dogs. We weren't going to call it quites so we soldered on and got completely soaked. We were able to have one lesson with a member family, and it was great. To end the day after getting dry we had some tacos al pastor, and absolute win!

Saturday, I had a training by Zoom for district leaders. We focused a lot on district counsel. One of the big things was that it is supposed to be a counsel not a lecture, and like all meetings in the church a revelatory experience. It gave me a lot of things to think about and implement to make my district councils as good as they can be. 

Sunday morning we had church but before that, the Elders of Hidalgo had to go to the hospital because the night Before Elder Lee cut his finger. I helped his bandage it up, but it wasn't until the morning we took the bandage off that we realized how bad it was and that stitches would be necessary. Church had a great fast and testimony meeting. Tons of powerful testimonies on conference. 

Monday morning, Elder Redmond and I had to go to Acoxpan for a rehearsal of the special musical number for this transfer's Zone Conference. We got back to Bosques in time for lunch. And had a great day after that. 

Tuesday, for P-day we went to the Biodiversity Museum at UNAM, as a district. It was epic, tons of taxidermies, and even a preserved Vaquita, the highly endangered porpoise endemic to the Gulf of California. 

Hasta la próxima,

Elder Neilson 

The museum of Biodiversity 

Exchanges and Elder Michaelis

Muhammed, my camel spider that died

A fuzzy caterpillar we found

The house getting blizzards 

Conference & Training

 Hola, 

My final week in Tlaltenco has come to an end, but it was a ride. 

The week started off with exchanges with the LZs. I got to spend the day with Elder Harris in Tlaltenco. He is for San Clemente CA, and for those back in Bronx Westchester he is the grandson of the late Brother Garf. We spent a majority of the day in the street visiting people with a workable addresses. We were able to find a few and set up lessons. That night the secretaries told us that Elder Basauri and I would be moving houses the next day. So to finish the exchange I packed all my bags. 

Thursday we spent moving to our new apartment, and regretting our decision to live on the third floor. The new apartment is super nice. One of, if not the best in the mission. 

Friday morning, Presidente Lyman called me to ask if I would train for this new transfer. I said yes. This will be my first time training, a new experience!

Then we had General Conference. It was a great conference, one of my favorite talks was Elder Bednar's. The parable of the Wedding of the King's Son, has confused me, so the additional explanation was fantastic. The message, we chose if we will be one of the chosen. God doesn't have a list and if you're not on it there's nothing you can do, but it is up to each one of us, to be on the Lord's team. 

Then Monday, and transfers, came around. I never unpacked from our move so the easiest time packing I've had in a while. Drum roll. My new area is Bosques, I've finally left the east side of the mission. My new Companion is Elder Redmond, from the Dallas area. He is a powerhouse and I look forward to finishing his training.

Hasta la próxima,

Elder Neilson

General Conference Lunch

Elote 

Lago de los Reyes

taxi to the stake center

ME

Moving with the secretaries

Elder Harris and I 

One of the stuffed bulls that hung in the old apartments entryway

The old bedroom

The old apartment

The old Bathroom 

The new apartment (this is the apartment on the 2nd floor the our apartment is on the 3rd, but the look almost exactly the same) 

The new apartment Building

Elder Redmond and I 

Tlaltenco pt. 17

 Hola todos, 

Another great week here in Tlaltenco going into the final week of the transfer. 

Wednesday, we had exchanges with the elders of El Molino, I worked with Elder Badillo, from Pamona. This is his first transfer and was his fist exchange in the mission. We had a great day, even though most of our lessons fell through, that always seems to happen during exchanges. The most interesting part of the day was at 1:30 in the morning, there was another earthquake here in the City. The funny thing is, we slept right through it. We only found out about the earthquake in the morning when Elder Basuari called in the morning to ask how we were. Over there in EL Molino it was really bad, they all lost a ton of sleep, while we were sleeping like babies. 

Saturday, for us was normal but the Elder of Milpa Alta had the Baptism of Margarita in the chapel here in Tlaltenco. She is the sister of one of our investigators here, and we referred her to the missionaries up there. Even though I only taught her once it was great to be able to see her make that covenant with the Lord. 

This week we were able to get two of our friends on baptisimal date which is awesome, both for the 22nd of October. The only sad thing is that we learned one of them most likely doesn't live in the mission, so we are going to have to refer him to the correct missionaries. That's always a bummer, but the important thing is that he is able to do the ordinance, not that it is here with us. 

Besides those bits of news a normal week, lots of contacts, calls, and lessons.

Hasta la Próxima,

Elder Neilson

Popocatepetl

Our dog friend Shift

Am epic rain shot courtesy of Elder Basauri

Walking the streets 

The two lovers 

District Council 

Independence & An Earthquake

 Hola todos, 

This week can be boiled down to the 2 major events on the 15th/16th and the 19th.

The 15th and 16th are the two parts of the Mexican independence celebration. The 15th is the Grito (Cry of Dolores) and the 16th is Independence Day. On the 15th we had our Noche Mexicana. It was a big stake party in the stake center. It started off with each ward performing a traditional Mexican dance they had prepared, some of them were pretty cool, a personal favorite was the machete dance performed by the YSAs. After that was the food. We had to leave at 8:30, so we missed out on whatever happened after that, but it was a great time. The 16th, at least in the morning, was super quiet and the streets were completely empty. It was a little strange, but after a night of a serious party here in Mexico it makes sense. We had some sort of party outside our house, fireworks and everything until super late. 

After a normal weekend, the 19th rolled around. President Lyman had advised us beforehand that at 12:20pm there would be an earthquake "simulation", So when the alarms sounded we went outside and did earthquake procedures. But then at 1:06pm we were hit by an actual 7.7 magnitude earthquake!. The Epicenter was off the coast of Michoacán so here in Mexico City, the ground rolled for a minute or two but it really wasn't bad. This is the third time that Mexico has had a substantial earthquake on the 19th. The first was 1985, then 2017, and now 2022, a 0.000752% probability!

To end on a spiritual thought: 

Alma 19:38. 

36 And thus the work of the Lord did commence among the Lamanites; thus the Lord did begin to pour out his ^aSpirit upon them; and we see that his arm is extended to ^ball people who will repent and believe on his name.

After the account of the conversion of King Lamoni, Mormon gives this simple statement. For me it shows the central purpose of the Book of Mormon: to testify of Jesus Christ. Everything was brought back to him, it wasn't "Ammon was a great missionary" but the Lord is at the center of this work.  

Hasta la Próxima,

Elder Neilson

E. Basauri and I

Torta de Panque 

Sunrise

Independence Day-15th 

Noche Mexicana 

Buey

Elder Basauri finally got his picture with the bull

post earthquake nap

Me in Zapotitlan 

President Pace

 Hola todos,

I feel like I just wrote to you guys but it's Tuesday again, so what have I been up to?

After a normal Wednesday we had the special conference with President Pace on Thursday. It was great Hermana Lyman, Presidente Lyman, Hermana Pace, President Pace, and Elder Dominguez (Area Seventy) all spoke. The big message was to be diligent in the work, follow the guidance of our leaders, and have urgency. Elder Dominguez shared how the mission in the grand scheme of things is a super short amount of time, we need to take advantage of it, be diligent! Another insight I loved came from President Pace, "diligence in the mission will bring miracles, not always investigators, but always a miracle in yourself" when we put our whole self into the mission, the Lord's work, we are changed for the better, we become more like him.

The rest of the week was overall normal, we did a ton of walking and visited almost every part of the Tlaltenco. 

Monday is the last noteworthy event which was exchanges with the Elders of Tláhuac. I served with Elder Reyes here in Tlaltenco for the day. My entire time here in Tlaltenco he has been in my district so it was great to get to know him better. 

"That's all folks" 

Hasta la próxima,

Elder Neilson

Parroquia de San Pedro Apóstol Tláhuac

This foto was a mission email profile picture from this point on 

On this exchange with Elder Reyes I bought my Green CDMX raincoat 

Exchanges with Elder Reyes

 Some of the Mission after the President Pace devotional

El Dorrito

the Music Council

Tláhuac Stake Conference

 Hola, 

Another great week has come to an end. 

Wednesday I directed my first district counsel. I think that it went great. We ended up talking a ton about the investigators we as a district are having trouble with. I can say for the investigators we have in Tlaltenco we got some great counsel. 

The rest of the week was chill, we did have a great lesson with our friends María and Hector. We taught them the Restoration and if all works out we will be giving them a Book of Mormon, Wednesday the 7th. María mentioned how she felt that from what we had taught the Book of Mormon will either confirm or deny the truthfulness of our message. And that is exactly true. As Joseph Smith taught it is the "keystone of our religion."

This weekend was the Stake conference for Estaca (Stake) Tláhuac. It is a little crazy to think that I was at this exact conference a year ago in my first transfer of training, the time has flown by! It was a great meeting, we had a seventy (not sure if it was general or area) speak to us and he had a great message. The conference touched heavily on temples and missionary work. The two components of Gathering Israel on both sides of the vail, as we have learned from President Nelson. 

I love this Church and know that it is the true church of Jesus Christ. 

Hasta la Próxima, 

Elder Neilson

oh great and powerful Monsters Energy Drink

District Council 

Laser Tag for Play

Billiards for Pday