Surprise transfer!

Well, this week has been one of the most unique and one of the best weeks so far! It's been one big ride from last week, but I'll try to share as much as I can!

First cool thing was Christmas! Christmas was amazing, this has been the most unique Christmas so far in my life. On Christmas Eve, we taught a lesson with an investigator and then came home and unwrapped some presents Elder Kaesler had for us. Christmas Day was a pretty normal day, except that evening was Brother Fukushima's birthday, so we had dinner with him at the church. For dessert, we ate a cake we made in the rice cooker. It honestly was a way simple Christmas, but definitely one of my favorites.

On Sunday, one of my favorite things so far on my mission happened. Brother Fukushima received the Priesthood! It has been so amazing to have seem him come this far. The Spirit has been working overtime without him, he's such an amazing and humble person. Knowing him has blessed my life so much, getting to see the power of Christ's atonement working every day. I can testify that I know that God and Jesus Christ live, and that they really do love each of us, even those of us who feel like we don't deserve that love or somehow can't receive it. Do your best everyday to live worthy of the Spirit, and I promise you that God will pour out His love on you.

Something pretty special happened yesterday, I got a call from the mission office. They told me that I'm being emergency transferred! I left Fuchu this morning, and now I'm sitting in the Atsugi church
building. I had to pack everything up last night and head over here this morning, but I'm here now! My new companions name is Elder Ayala, and he's from Georgia. He speaks English, Spanish, and Japanese, so he's a total beast. This is going to be an awesome transfer, I can feel it in my bones!

Love you all!
Elder Nelson

PS Skyping on Christmas was awesome! Shout out to the best family out there!
PPS I ate something called Oyakodon, which means mother and child. So, I ate chicken and eggs on rice.
PPPS This week I learned koalas are not bears.

Brother Fukushima's birthday

Starting off the transfer right!

Merry Christmas everyone! I can't believe it's already past half way through December! So, have a Merry Christmas, and also wish my brother Spencer a happy birthday! He's getting old!

So, last week I wrote about Fukushima San, and how amazing a change that has been brought into his life. Well, this past Saturday, he made a huge step in his life, and was baptized! His baptism went great, and he received the gift of the Holy Ghost yesterday on Sunday. I guess we now have to start calling him Brother Fukushima! It's been an amazing experience to be able to go with him every step of the way, from talking with him on the street to witnessing him enter the water, I had the privilege of seeing him makes those changes in his life. It's something that I don't think I appreciate enough, that as a missionary my purpose is to help people makes promises with God that will allow them to return to His love and presence. I'm so glad that our Father sent us his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, to help us overcome our sins, our sadness, our pains. It's through Him and His Atonement that we
really can return to live with our Father again. This gospel has brought so much peace and joy into my life, and I know that it can bring the same into your life as well. My hope and prayer is that all
of you take this Christmas season to spread the love and joy of the Savior and His Gospel. Reach out and serve Him the best you can, and the Lord will magnify your efforts.

I love you all! Have a fabulous Christmas season!

Elder Nelson

PS My two companions are Elder Kaesler, the far left, and Elder Brown, the one right next to him. Elder Takahashi was in the area while we were teaching Brother Fukushima and hey became friends, so he brought his companion in from where he got transferred.
PPS Elder Kaesler is from Australia. So that's fun.
PPPS Fun fact, I've had to eat 6 meals straight from either 7-11 or McDonalds. I don't want you to think I'm being too healthy.

Transfer week thing!

Well, I've officially done it. I'm done being a trainee! We're moving on to transfer three this week, so I'm now all grown up and stuff. We got transfer calls this week, and it looks like I'm still studying in
my beloved Fuchu area. But! Things are changing a bit. I'm staying companions with Elder Brown, but we're combining the two Fuchu Elder's areas together, and becoming a triple Elder companionship. So, I'm companions with both Elder Brown and Elder Kaesler starting on Thursday. I've been living in the same apartment with Elder Kaesler since I began my time in Japan, so I'm looking forward to working this transfer!

There have been some cool experiences with the Spirit this week that were way cool. We stopped and talked with this guy on a street corner by the church, and shared a quick lesson with him. Times rolls on, and a week later we're walking down a completely different neighborhood, when we get this feeling to go down a different side path. We get going, and we suddenly run into the same guy! In a city of over 16 million people, that doesn't just happen! It's a testimony to me of how much Heavenly Father must love that man, giving him as many opportunities as possible to come unto Him.

We've been teaching this man named Fukushima San, and his story so far has been amazing. When we met him, he was one of the saddest, most down on his luck guy I've ever met. Like, seriously, I didn't see him smile for several weeks. But, we've been teaching him about Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, and Their love for him. It's been several weeks now, and now their isn't a day I see him where he doesn't smile or crack a joke with us. The transformative power of the gospel and of the Spirit is so real. Being a missionary gives me such a great opportunity to see these large changes in people's lives, but these things don't happen just on missions. I can testify that these changes, these opportunities to come closer to Christ, can be seen in all aspects of life. Maybe it's a friend who needs a lift, maybe a sibling who needs some love, or maybe it's yourself. This week, try and look for the miracles, the changes you see in the lives of those around you, and in yourself. I promise if you strive to be the best person you can, and rely on the Lord, you will see God's hand over you and your loved ones.

Have a great week everyone! Love you! Merry Christmas!

Elder Nelson

PS I gave myself a haircut this week, and now I look like a gerbil. Therefore, no photos this week.
PPS Health update: I ate a mini orange thing today. I do t know what they are called, but I actually liked it. What is happening to my taste buds?!?

Another Temple Day!

Man, it feels like just yesterday that I went to the temple in Japan for the first time, and now it's time to go again. Time has really flown this transfer, that is for sure! The temple was awesome today! I mean, it's always awesome, but today was great. It might have something to do with getting to go a lot less frequently than when I was at home, or now just being a missionary makes the temple better, but going to the temple now is a wonderful, spiritual experience. If you live in a place where you can attend the temple regularly, I would highly recommend it! It will bless you life a ton, I can promise that!

There was a really cool experience that happened this week. Elder Brown and I had taught this man on Monday evening, we listened to our message and took a Book of Mormon, and we thought he was interested. Turns out, he's not really and his family is pretty against him meeting us. We talked on the phone for about an hour on Tuesday and Wednesday night, resolving is concerns and stuff, but he still wasn't all that into it, so we just said we'd give him some time. But, while while Elder Takahashi and I (we were on splits) were waiting at church for a different investigator, the uninterested man's sister walks in, wanting to return the Book of Mormon. Well, we weren't just going take that lying down, so we're started talking, and eventually just started teaching a sit down lesson about the restoration. We bore our testimonies of the Book of Mormon, and challenged her to take it back and read it. And she did! She took the Book of Mormon she had meant to return back home because she wanted to read it now! That was a big testimony builder for me about the power of your testimony, the Book of Mormon, and of course the Holy Ghost. The way it can soften someone's  heart, and help them choose to follow the Savior is amazing. So, my challenge for everyone this week is to go and bear your testimony to someone. It doesn't have to be anything special, in fact, in my experience, the simplest testimonies are by far the most powerful. Just let someone know about your love for our Heavenly Father and Christ, the atonement, Joseph Smith, anything really. Just a simple, heartfelt message has the power to change lives, of that I can testify.

Because we went to the temple today, running, I'm running short on time. I'll try to write everyone back, but if I don't get to you, rest assured it will happen next week!

Love you all!

Elder Nelson

PS Despite going to the temple, I didn't get a picture there. But I did get a picture of some soap I bought.

Christmas time is here!

Hello everyone! Welcome to the official best time of year, Christmas time! A whole season dedicated to celebrating Christ's  does not get better than that! I love Christmas!

This past week was way good, it was probably the busiest one so far. A lot of crazy encounters with people happened. For example, we were biking down the left side of the road. Biking in the same direction down the right side of the road was a kid around 18 years old. So, we catch up with him, and just kinda start talking/yelling to him from across the road. Apparently that was enough to catch his interest, so we talked for a while, and got some contact info, and set up a meeting with him later. It was way cool, Heavenly Father was definitely working out the details of that one.

On Thanksgiving Day, we had our Zone's Christmas conference. It was way good, there was so much that was said about raising your vision to what God's vision is. We have no idea the potential we have, even in this life. Like, we know that we can become like God in the life to come, but what about now? What does tomorrow hold in store for our potential? To quote Elder Uchtdorf's talk "A Summer with Great Aunt Rose", "Now is part of eternity." Every day, we can rise to our Father's standard for us. For example, maybe today God wants you to be a bit more patient, a bit more loving, show a bit more faith in Christ. Fulling God's will for us everyday is how we prepaid to fulfill it for eternity. So, this week try just s bit harder, when you feel like you can't go anymore, just keep trying, I promise Heavenly Father and Christ can make up the rest.

Keep up all your good work! I love you all, and appreciate all of your letters! Have a fantastic Christmas season!

Elder Nelson

PS Thanksgiving dinner was a bowl of instant curry made in our apartment. Needless to say, 'twas delicious.
PPS Today I was an adult. I clean a drain.
PPPS In Japan, it's pretty common to have business cards for yourself. This week I got mine! I think I'm one of the first missionaries to put his Instagram on his cards. Call me Elder Trendsetter

I'm not creative enough to make a good email title.

I hope you all had as good of a week as I did, cause that would mean you all had a fabulous week!

First off, we had stake conference! It was way good, my favorite part was they had a priesthood session which I got to go to. There were quite a few missionaries at that one, so I think they used some slightly slower, easier Japanese, but I understood a good 95% of what went on that meeting. It was way good! I can't promise that I understood a lot during the normal session of Conference when there were a ton of native Japanese speakers.... But it was good anyways! The people here in Japan are way better members than I am. Most of the talks in priesthood session focused on member missionary work, and the people in the ward are way more helpful than I ever was. So basically,
I need to pick up my slack! Member missionary work is way important! So, if you have any way you can help your local missionaries, do it! You'll make there day and hopefully move the work of the Lord further!

This week was crazy, we had three days in a row where our investigators bailed on our lessons, but rescheduled at later times in the day. It was great that we got to meet with them all, but since some rescheduled, and then came a bit late to our lessons, they overlapped with another persons lesson! So, we kept going on splits with the other Elders in our area to cover everyone. It was way stressful, but way good! Lots of going off the fly and just following the Spirit to make everything work out!

I was studying from Preach My Gospel the other day, and a way cool line jumped out at me. It says, "Heaven is a continuation of the ideal home." That made me stop and think for a while, and I noticed that everything in the gospel is there to help strengthen our family relationships and make them last into eternity. Through Christ and His atonement, we really can live together as families forever. I'm so grateful for this gospel and the happiness it brings to me!

I hope you all have a great week! Love you all! Happy Thanksgiving this week!

Elder Nelson

PS For people at Timpview, I ran into Elisa Toma at Stake Conference. Pretty cool!
PPS A little glimpse into how Japanese I am. I didn't know what to make for breakfast, so I just cooked some rice and poured milk on it. Yum.
PPPS I got to get stuffed in a train the other day. Way fun!

What are the chances you run into someone from Provo in Tokyo?

Hello everyone! I hope you've had a great week. Like, at least a level 12 kind of week!

First things first, the coolest thing I the world happened on Saturday. Elder Brown and I were up in Chofu, a neighboring city to Fuchu, and were handing out fliers to our free English class. While I
was doing that, out of no where walks Kisho Noda! Some of you people might remember him from Provo, he did a 10 month long exchange program, so he got to know quite a few people in Timpview. Way cool miracle! We are almost never in Chofu, and he said he never walks the way he did, but we both ended up there at the right time. Heavenly Father had His Hand over us that day, making everything work out so we could meet. It was way great!

We had splits with the Zone Leaders this week, so I got to send Elder Brown off and work with Elder Jesperson for a day. He is a way great guy, and way funny. He and I did some streeting for a couple hours on our way to a potential investigators house, and met some awesome people. One kid was in high school, and had an umbrella disguised as a sword. So, you now, Japan.

There was so much rain over the past 3 days. We were biking home from Chofu, and when we got to our destination, every part of us was soaked. But, since I had the rain coat of Champions, I wasn't nearly as wet as Elder Brown. Let me say, getting rain on and having a helmet on gives you some wacky hair styles. Way fun, I was grinning like a dork the whole time because of how both cliché biking in the rain is for missionaries and just how much fun it was to be out.

This week, I was reading from the Book of Mormon, and read from the Book of Helaman. In chapter 9:4-5, the Lord says some amazing things to Nephi. I would recommend reading those verses, and ponder how you can be like Nephi, how you can be better in your life and have access to all those blessings. I know that it's helped me so far, and I will definitely keep trying to improve myself. That's what this is all about, improvement and become more like our Savior.

Love you all!
Elder Nelson

PS There are a ton of Christmas lights all over the place, pretty much the best thing ever.
PPS Much like PS, I have found the Christmas Spirit.
PPPS At McDonald's here, the have a thing called Shaka Shaka Chicken. It is amazing.