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.