2 years mark

Hello everyone! I hope that this email finds you all happy and well! I didn't think that this would ever come, today is my two year mark from entering the MTC. Craziness!

This week was crazy, Elder Hemi, Elder Gonzales and I went and worked as hard as we could. We met a lot of new investigators, several of whom we met for the first time and said that they would like to be baptized. We met one kid and gave him a church tour after meeting on the street, and he said he loved being there. We introduced baptism and he said that everyone should know about this. Needless to say, we are way excited to be working with all these new guys!

Our boy, Jun, met again this week and had a great lesson on the Plan of Salvation. He's loving the gospel and everything he is learning. He will be coming with us to church tomorrow. Thank you all so much for your prayers on behalf of all these people that we meet and work with!

I love missionary work! Nothing in my life has meant as much to me as serving the Lord here in Japan. For anyone who is considering going, please serve a mission! Anyone who is able and worthy to serve should do it, it will bless their lives more than they can imagine. Heavenly Father lives and loves each of us, and His Son Jesus Christ has shown us the way back to Him. I love them and the opportunity to serve them here!

I love you all!

Elder Nelson

tengo hambre!

Hello everyone! This was a great week! We don't have a ton of time today to write, so I'm going to keep this one short.

I have a new companion! Elder Gonzales is from Columbia, and is a way fired up missionary. He came in yesterday, and we've been able to see a lot of miracles working together so far. We've had a lot of fun so far, and I look forward to begin able to keep working with him!

I know that God lives! He sent us here to learn and grow through our experiences, and as we rely on Him we can and will draw closer to Him and return to live with Him again. I love this gospel and being a missionary!

Have a great week. Love you all!

Elder Nelson

Summersummersummer

Hello everyone! I hope that you are all enjoying summer vacation, and the summer heat! I'll bet it pretty hot over there as well!

This week was way good, we were able to get a lot done, and see a lot of miracles! I love being out and talking with people, it's always an adventure. We were just walking on the street, and Elder Hemi complimented this guys shoes, hoping he would stop, but as soon as we complimented them, this group of old Japanese ladies just burst out laughing, and started repeating the compliment over and over as if it were the funniest thing they have every heard. We just had to take a minute to stop laughing because of what happened, but it's always nice to have a good laughing break during the day.

We taught a lesson with this guy who moved here from China named Hu. He has a ton of questions, ranging from "why are there so many different churches?" to "why do people go to church" to "why do bad things happen to good people?" It went well, and the thing that we kept coming back to was that the only way to know for yourself was to read and pray about the Book of Mormon, and that through that, you would have the faith to overcome any trail that came your way. I have high hopes for our boy Wu! Keep him in your prayers!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Nelson

How is it July?

I could have sworn it was February last month. Oh well! This past week was really good! We were able to see a lot of miracles. The Lord is guiding the work here!

We taught a lesson to a man from Mexico this past week. He talked to us about how Jesus Christ has blessed his life, and how he has been guided by Him. It is really cool how God has prepared him to receive our message. Several years ago, his grandfather gave him a book produced by the church, and he read it and was positively influenced, so he has very good feelings towards our church. We were able to share about the Restoration with him, and bear our testimonies of the Book of Mormon. He was really accepting of it, and we should be having another appointment with him next week!

We had splits with the Elders in Kunitachi, Elder Gonzales and Elder Handly. Elder Gonzales and I were working around a train station in our area, and this kid comes up and starts talking to us. Turns out he met the missionaries around this train station over 2 years ago, and has wanted to meet up since, but he has never seen them again. So, when he saw us, he came up to us and started talking. We gave him a Book of Mormon, and should be meeting with him again later today! I know that the Lord's hand is over this work, that He helps His missionaries, and that He loves each and every one of us.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Nelson

Also, here is a picture of a different kid we met this week. Caught blinking. Every time.

I love the rain!

Hello everyone! I have given up on trying to have clever introductions to these emails, so I'm just going to start talking about the week. Here goes!

This week was amazing! We were about to get out and work a lot, even on days were it was pouring rain. On Wednesday, there was so much rain and wind. But, we went out and tried talking to this guy that was walking past the front of the church, and we were able to stop, talking, and eventually just decide to talk more in the church. So, we went inside, gave a church tour, and taught about the Restoration. I went really well, even though he decided not to continue to meet and learn more, I know that God put him in our path so that we could teach him. Blessings!

We also had Zone Conference! We focused on the role of the Book of Mormon in conversion. I loved it, I was able to feel the Spirit bear testimony to me about the divinity of the Book of Mormon. One of my favorite parts was when President just let the missionaries have some free time to stand and share experience that they and investigators have had with the Book of Mormon. I want to keep improve my ability to share this book, and help everyone read from it. I'll keep working harder to do just that!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Nelson

We also got to Skype with the one and only Elders in Yamato!

Transfer week!

It has been one crazy week, we had transfer come up, and everything that goes along with that. Lots of fun, lots of work!

We've seen a ton of miracles this week, new investigators have been coming out of the wood work. Its cool to see the Lord's timing on certain things, there have been some people that we met over a month ago who are now just starting to meet up, but they look really solid. We got to talk to a guy we met on the street over a month ago on the phone, and we set up a time to meet tonight. He said he would bring some friends so that they could learn about Jesus Christ. Looking forward to that!

We had a way good lesson with an awesome couple we met on the street a bit ago. They were way open to the message of the Restoration. The man said he had been wondering which church was true. He always has know the Bible was true, but he was never sure about his own church, so he is so excited to hear that he could pray and know if the Book of Mormon. We are excited and praying about them! The Lord knows and loves His children!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Nelson

We had lunch. It was good.

🇳🇿 🇳🇿 (On my phone these are British flags)

Hello everyone! I hope you are all enjoy this beautiful June! A lot stuff went on this week, but of course, Elder Nelson is gonna be lame and only write a little bit. As always. Sorry! Time is always such a killer! And writing is hard. But enough excuses, I just write my email now.

We had a fun ward activity this past week that included a cooking contest. The theme was "Meat", and so we made beef sushi. The member we worked with went all out and bought this way expansive beef, so it tasted soooo good. Lots of fun!

Also, I got a new companion! His name is Elder Hemi, he's from New Zealand, but was raised in Japan until he was about 13 years old, so his Japanese and English are perfect. It's been way fun working with him so far, and I look forward to working with him even more. He's a killer missionary, so this should be a good transfer!

One thing that I learned a lot about this week was the power of prayer. There were several times this past week where I had no idea what to do, or how to best accomplish God's will, but I prayed and
almost immediately received help and guidance in ways I'd never have expected. Like, we were waiting for a new investigator to show up to an appointment, but he never came, and I said a silent prayer about what we should do. Almost immediately there was this way cool kid who just came up to us and started talked. We should be meeting with him sometimes this next week! I know that God answers prayers and that He loves His children!

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Nelson

Ward party sushi

Elder Hemi ft. p-day guitar

Ward party sushi