We got snow!

Hello everyone! I hope you had a great Thanksgiving, and the subsequent beginning of the Christmas season. I love this time of year! I'll just be walking down a road here, and there will just be
Christmas jingles playing over some speakers. I love it!

It snowed this week on Thanksgiving! We haven't gotten snow in Tokyo in like over 50 years, so that was way awesome. It didn't really stick, but it was still awesome to see out of the window.

We had a great opportunity to teach an investigator after church this week, and we talked about a lot of different things, but one thing that stuck out to me was how we come to know things in the gospel. Our friend had some many questions about how he can know, but the one thing we kept coming back to was the Holy Ghost and the Book of Mormon. I'm so grateful for the guidance of Heavenly Father in our lives, and that He guides and blesses us each on an individual level. All that He requires of us is that we ask.

Thank you all! I'm sorry this week is short, I'm running out time. Have a great week! Enjoy the new Christmas video on Mormon.org !

Elder Nelson

The view from our apartment with the snow

Here's the letter!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had a great week! We had transfers this week, and I am in Kanagawa. I love it here! Here is one thing special about this area, and the zone that I'm in. This is the hilliest zone in the whole mission. And I haven't used my bike in almost 5 transfers. So this has been fun. But really, it's been so good! I love this area, and the ward is way awesome!

My companion is Elder Ota. He is from Hokkaido, Japan, which is the northern most part of Japan. He's such a hard worker, and we've been having a great time so far. I really look forward to this transfer!

Also, right after transfers, my friend Kon was able to get baptized! I was lucky enough to be able to come back and participate in the baptismal service. He's the best!

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Nelson

 We had to strap my suitcase to my back and bike it to my apartment

Here are also some pictures from Mount Takao

Here's a random man who wanted to take a picture with us

I had time, once.

I hiked a mountain today, so I don't have time to write an email. I love you all, and will write a good one next week. I'll also reply to everyone's emails then too!

Also I'm getting transferred to Kawasaki. My new companion will be Elder Ota, I'm really excited!

Love you all!

Elder Nelson

But why is October already gone?

Wow, I can't believe that we're already in November. This week was a really good one, there were a lot of great experiences that gave opportunities to learn from the Spirit.

We had MLC this past week on Wednesday, so I got to go up to Kichijoji for the day. That was great, I was able to learn a lot from my time there. The next day we had Zone Conference, which was also a wonderful experience. A major theme from both of the conferences was Family History.  We were able to learn so much about it and how it is such a powerful tool in the Lord's service. Shout out to my mom for doing all the Family History work! It's something that I definitely want to start applying more and helping our investigators and recent converts get into.  (Elder Nelson's mom here: Click here to go to FamilySearch.org to set up your free account and get started building a family tree and searching records for free.) 

Sacrament meeting was really great this week. One thing that I've been able to learn a lot so far is that in opportunities to learn from the Lord (the temple, attending church, General Conference) you only get out as much as you put it. This past week I felt the Spirit strongly as I took the sacrament and sought the Lord's guidance. I love the sacrament, taking it really can and will help us grow closer to our Heavenly Father.

I love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Nelson

PS Sorry my letters are short. I'm lame, I know. Here, have a picture of some ribs a member made for us. First time I've had ribs in over a year :)

Skype companionship study with the AP's