Sorry, type-0, i meant Enos..not ether...

On Mon, Oct 22, 2012 at 11:44 AM, Austin Nelson <[email protected]> wrote:
Hey!
so this week was awesome!! so President Andaya had to go to manila for a doctor check up, so we had to pick him up at Catarman airport on saturday morning at 6am. Catarman was the zone i was zone leader in my 3rd area. and it is the farthest zone away. so we left friday and had a little road trip..elder Sang-an and I (my companion). it was a long drive! so this weekend we attended the Catarman Stake conference...and its crazy cuz i feel like i just attended it a couple months ago when i was there. time flies by!!  so do you wanna know what i saw  on sunday.?? and only in the philippines! so in the middle of stake conference, there was a little boy about 5 years old or so, he came running down the aisle and guess what he was wearing?!! NOTHING!!! this kid was but naked, and only had a buttoned up shirt that was unbuttoned... right in the middle of someones talk. im not going to lie, i have never seen a naked little boy running thru the chapel in the middle of the meeting!! haha i couldn't believe my eyes! let alone during a stake conference with all the leaders there! it was crazy!
So i also got to see all the members from San Isidro, my 3rd area! and they were so excited to see me! the pretended to kid nap me and take me back to their area! haha so it made me feel good to see them again. and what was even better was to see brother Chase Robinson, you is an Phil-am(american/filipino). when i was there he was really less active, and then we visited him and we became good friends and he became active. then i transfered. then yesterday, he was sustained to receive the Melchizedek priesthood! so it was great to see that progression from becoming active to seeing him recieve the mel. Priesthood! so i am super happy for him. and grateful that i had a chance to help him make those changes.
So since we picked up president and Sister Andaya from the airport, we got to spend the whole weekend with them. mainly just the drive home that took like 8 hours, so we got to get to know them really well. i love being so close to them all the time. it is quite a blessing! i love them so much! i know they are called by God! And President reminds me so much of dad! and he even seems to look like him! so its been awesome to be around him so much!
Well this week we have zone Interviews, so this last week we spent a lot of time on preparing a training! there are so many trainings to prepare! but we're excited! its been cool to see how the spirit works and revelation with helping us prepare trainings! so i'm excited for that! we are training the missionaries to on how to become more spiritual, and raise to that higher level...live the higher law that Jesus Taught. and To always be at the highest standards of conduct. so im excited to see how it turns out.
I really am loving it here! time goes by so fast! too fast! i love serving the missionaries and being able to help them. although, its just not the same as missionary work cuz i don't get to work as much. but we try to get some proselyting in, but its hard cuz we are always gone or busy. but i know that God has a purpose for my work, and called me to this calling for a reason, so i'll do my best to fulfill it!
I had a good study while i read ether verses 3-9 i think.. and learned that one that feels the healing power of the Atonement becomes converted. and once you feel this power, this miracle, you will want to share it with others. so that really stuck out to me. like it says in Luke, once you are converted, strengthen your brothren. so i thought i would share that with you.
Thank you for all you do! i love you all! hope you have a great week! thank you so much for the emails!
Love you all!
Love, Elder Nelson

Hello everyone!
We got to watch General Conference this week! and it was amazing! i loved it! i was trying my best to just soak it all in! the speakers were amazing! i felt like they talked alot about keeping the law of chastity, repentance,and standing strong for your beliefs. i loved it! The priesthood session was awesome too! i loved elder Christensens talk, he talked about how men need to step up, and he shared alot of facts about how low mens grades are and stuff. and it really gave me a desire and motivation to do the best in everything that i do. And i am grateful for the blessins that i have received becuase of the gospel. i really feel like i am doing my best and not slacking off and being lazy.  so it should encourage all the men to step up and not be lazy. so i liked that talk. it was inspiring!
And of course, Elder Hollands talk! WOW is all i can say. he was so bold but in a loving kind way. I didn't even want to take my eyes off him to take notes. but i did take notes on something that i learned from him. i learned that the grass is not greener on the other side. just like the disciples went back to their normal way of life like they were before, probably thinking they would catch alot of fish. but they didn't. so sometimes (especially here) members have some problems/trials, and they think that if they return to their way of life before, they think it would be easier. but little do they know, its not. they won't catch any "fish". but it shows the mercy that Jesus Christ has for us. that even tho they turned from him, he said cast your nets on the right side and they drew fish! so as soon as we hearken to his voice, we are immediately blessed! so the Grass is never greener or better on the other side...meaning not in harmony with the gospel teachings. so thats something that i learned from his talk. and feel like its something that i can help people realize here. which we did, last night, we FINALLY had a lesson. it was with a less active brother, and we shared to him this and he committed to show his love by reading the scriptures and coming to church. so we'll wait to see him at church! :)
I loved Conference!! it was just a huge spiritual feast! i feel like i get more out of conference here than i did at home...maybe its the way we dress when we listen to conference...if we are dressed in pajamas and just sloppy, we probably won't get much out of it. we watched it at our chapel here in tacloban (the stake center).
It was cool to see the crowds reaction when President Monson announced the new age requirements for missionaries! that is so cool! do you know how many more missionaries that will add???!! i think it was really add thousands to the 50 of thousands we already had. i think its so cool! im so excited!

so this week was transfer week, and it was also the most busy, and STRESSFUL week! i am learning how to manage stress. idk if you know, but the Assistants do EVERYTHING! we meet with president and have transfer council, which is where we discuss who is transfering and training and stuff like that... its really cool to see the revelatory process in that. i assume is kinda like assigning missionaries to missions, but not that big, but its really cool to see President Andaya receive the revelation to where the missionaries should be assigned, what their assignment should be, who their comp. should be and all that stuff. so after that, its all us. we do everything and it takes forever and is really busy. some days we get like 4-5 hours of sleep. so its really busy, but its an awesome experience! i am learning alot, and loving my mission. i have been praying that i will have opportunities to serve other people, and i really get that opportunity with this calling. i love it! so everything is going great here! time is flying by! Thank you for all you do! all your prayers and support, i really appreciate it!
I love you All!
Have a great Week!
Love, Elder Nelson

HEY everyone!
so i feel like not much happened this week, cuz we had ZERO lessons, but a lot of stuff happened as well. and it evened out for not having a lesson cuz we have been so busy. so we had ZLC this week, and that went good, im getting more comfortable giving trainings now. its just weird that the trainings are for the whole mission, so it adds quite a lot of pressure, but im staying humble and i have seen how the Lord and the spirit works thru me. so i had an awesome experience this week with helping a missionary. and this was an experience that really helped me realize that this calling is to help others, and even tho i don't get to teach a lot, i get to help other missionaries so they can teach more effectively. so we got a call from President Andaya, and he wanted us to visit the Zone leaders in Calbayog (3 1/2 hours away), we didn't really know why. cuz all the zone leaders that we have in our mission are just awesome missionaries...no problems, but for some reason, president Andaya wanted us to visit them. so we cancelled our plans, and went to visit them. and so we worked with the elders there, had a couple hours of work, and come to find out they were having some companion issues, but thats something they could've fixed on their own, so we helped them with that, and then i got to talk with one of them individually. and This whole time, we didn't really know why we were there, we just knew that the Lord told pres. Andaya to send us there so we went. and so i talked to him about Letting go of worldly things. he's a great elder, very obedient hard working, but just hasn't really let go. so i took with me a talk that Ryan sent me called "the Fourth missionary" and its about 4 types of missionaries. 1st is disobedient and goes home early, 2nd is disobedient but finishes his mission. 3rd. is very obedient but still holding on to the worldly things..and 4th, serves with all his heart might mind and strength. it was really helped me to do my best to be that 4th missionary. and so i read part of that too him. and it really just hit him.. even teared him up. he said he's been having a hard time lately and this is exactly what he needed! It got really spiritual, and he ended up asking me for a priesthood blessing, which i gave willingly. and  a few days later he texted me saying, "Thanks so much elder nelson. This talk you gave me has changed my entire outlook on my mission and has helped me to repent. i am so grateful that the lord sent you here to help me. i really had to ponder some things and think hard about  my mission. i know that the lord sent you here to help me when i needed it most. and not only me bu i want you to know that it has motivated Elder... and elder...to be the fourth missionary. thank you for following the spirit to help me in my time of hardship, i love you elder! keep leading this mission in the right Direction". so thats what he texted me and it really hit. and made me realize thats why president sent us, cuz the lord wanted us to go there. and it has really made an impact on him. and me! i hope all this makes sense, im trying to explain it. but it really made me realize that i have a huge opportunity to serve other missionaries, and i love that. i love serving others so they can become better missionaries. So for me that was a really neat experience, very spiritual...hope it makes sense. but i loved it!
I love My mission! i am having a great Time! and love being so close to the spirit!  i love serving the lord and serving others. i love the scripture mosiah 2:17..cuz its so true! when we are serving others, we really are in the service of our God. so thats my testimony builder this week! hope you enjoy!
And this weekend in Gen. Conference for us! i am so excited! so i'll let you know that i think of it!
Hope you have a great week! thank you so much for all the emails, and support! i love you all so much!
Love Elder Nelson

HEY!
Its already OCTOBER!! i cant believe it!! time is going by so fast! so this week was crazy!
so like my last email, i said i was getting my toe pulled.(i mean my toe nail). it was another ingrown, but what happened was it was the same toe that got removed partially last time, and then it didn't grow back right this time, and my nail wasn't a good nail.. your nails are suppose to be pink and shiny right, well mine was all white, so it wasn't a good nail, so they just removed the whole thing! it was my left big toe! ouch!! it was painful, still is! but i'm doing great! so no worries! I was still on exchanges in my area when i got it removed, so i still decided to work even tho it was still hard and painful to walk. so what we did was, we rented a pedi cab driver (its a bicycle with a side cart on it) and the driver came with us the WHOLE day! haha so pretty much he worked with us. and most of our appointments fell thru, so we spent a lot of time finding cuz i don't know my area very well, (i've only worked there a couple times cuz we're never in our area). so while he was drving us around, we would be talking to him about the gospel, and we were just sharing with him the whole day. and while we were at someone house, we was sitting in his pedi cab reading the Book of Mormon! cool huh?? so he said he'll try and come to church. it was just cool cuz even tho it was hard to work becuase of my toe, we were still able to talk to people about the gospel. and i know that we planted a seed for that man!

and we got to teach Jim this week! he is AWESOME!! so cool! one of my favorite people to teach!! he's the american one. so we visited him while i was on exchanges with elder mantala, and he was SO excited and happy to see us. cuz he had received an answer from church that he really wanted to share with us. and it was awesome cuz he got his answer the following monday after church and he connected it to church. he knew he got his answer cuz he came to church. he's going thru a lot of problems right now...like his wife just left him (his 4th wife) and he finally realized why they are all leaving (that was his answer that he got from church) so he shared with us his answer, and we were so ahppy to hear that! and then he was like "for a guy with me, where do i start??" and that made us even more happy cuz it shows that he is open and willing to listen and follow to what he needs to do to change his life! so we shared with him the gospel of Jesus Christ, about faith, repentance, baptism, recieving the holy ghost, and enduring to the end. and told him if he always prays, read, and goes to church, he would eventually get rid of all his bad habits. and then he asked, "do you guys have like a list of all the things that you aren't suppose to do, or is that something that i have to find out through out the book of Mormon?". we were like wow! so we gave him a gospel principles book, and he is going to read about the law of chastity.. :/ and word of wisdom, and a bunch of other stuff. so he is  really progressing! he's moving forwards at least!
unfortunatly, he didn't come to church yesterday, he had something come up. but he is still moving forward.

so this week, we have had zone conferences, and a missionary couple came down to our mission to talk to us about health. they are the medical couple in the philippines. they are actually elder wilkes aunt and uncle, so that was cool, they got to see each other. and when we were in ormoc, President andaya and the medical couple were staying in a really nice hotel...and president andaya Got us a room too!! it was so nice! one of the best nice sleep every! AIR CON!! it was actually too cold. but it was really nice, we were very spoiled! haha but it was good experience!
well i hope you enjoy the pictures. i put them on a word doc. so i hope that works better so i can send more pics! i'll try and send the rest!
Well, i love you all, and am still pryaying for you all. i miss you and love you all! hope you know that i am having a great time, and am loving my mission! have a great week! and hope you enjoy conference! i don't get it til 2 more weeks!
Love you,
Love, Elder nelson

HEY!
well this week was awesome! super busy of course! and i don't have a lot of time on the computer cuz i have to get my toe nail removed in an hour....i know, again!! i am not looking forward to it, but it is ingrown again!! but i'll be fine..i'll just come home with no toes!

so we have this investigator that is an american from Florida. and he is awesome! his name is Jim, and things are starting to really get crazy in his life. but he loves when we visit him. we visited him and he was telling us what was happening with the US (he has the news, we didn't know anything..) like with the US embassies and mitt Romney and obama and stuff. and basically, we just took the opportunity to talk and testify about the book of mormon. we told him that the Book of Mormon was written for our day, and that it has prophesied these things, and he just loved everything that we talked about. told him that if a nation will serve God, they will prosper (ether chapter 2..). and he really agreed! he said, "man, everything that you have said about Joseph Smith and The Book of Mormon, i totally agree with it 1000%! i feel good when you talk about it and when i read it, and it just makes sense!" man we loved hearing that, and took that opportunity to testify to him that it IS true. and he was just loving it and he Committed to come to church!! even he has some major problems in his life..(his filipino wife just left him and took some of his money with her...so its not going too well for him..) but despite all that, he was committed to come to church! so yesterday, before church, we went and picked him up at his house and walked with him to the church! and he loved church!! he is in his 50's i think and is about 6 foot 2 or so, and all the members were asking me if he was my dad...hahaha (its not very often that an american goes to a LDS church in the philippines) but we told them he was an investigator, and i think we were probably more nervous than he was cuz ...we were scared that the speakers might talk about something too deep or even false doctrine. for example, in Gospel principles class, it was on missionary work, and we just read the verse about "preach the gospel to all creatures".. and the teacher said that we needed to share the gospel with all the plants and trees and stuff like that...haha so we were kinda cringing when she said that, hoping that Jim couldn't hear what she said..haha but it was great! he really liked it and said that he'll be coming back next time. and ah, i just love visiting him, and he loves us. he thought it was so cool that our church has no paid leaders! and he loves the idea of the missionary program that we have. he is just an awesome guy, he is planning on going back to the states tho..IF mitt Romney wins..haha thats what he said. he really like Romney. so that was our awesome success story this week, JIM came to Church!!! \

This week, we have been traveling and going on exchanges with other missionaries. and lets just say the philippines has some BEAUTIFUL places!!! seriously! so beautiful!! its so green, and its like driving thru a jungle, over mountains, thru valleys, along the ocean...you name it! its been really beautiful!! so its really cool to see the mission! our schedule  was like, wake up, travel to one island, work with the missionaries there, then evaluate them, stay the night with them, and then the next morning, travel again to another area, work with them, evaluate, sleep, travel, work, eval. sleep travell......ah kapoy! its so busy! and i get to practice all 3 languages cuz i think the tower of babel was here in the Philippines!! no joke! so many different languages and dialects... but its awesome and gift of tongues is real!! its such an awesome chance to serve others! i love it! well, this seems to be all the time that i have time for! just know that i love you all! and i love it here in the mission! I know that Jesus Christ is Our Savior and that He loves us all! and i love him!
Have a great week! thank you for all your prayers and support! Love you all!
Love Elder Nelson

HEY!

so this week was Crazy! so we had transfer week, and that was so busy. we had no time for any appointments, and we were picking up missionaries from the airport, taking them to the airport, and pickup and driving around Elder Cook and his company. that Was awesome!! elder cook came out of the air port wearing a golfers hat on..it was awesome. he def. pulled it off well. President Andaya Drove Elder Cook and Elder Nielson and their wives. and me and my companion drove around with Elder Tadd r Callister of the Seventy and his wife. and that was really cool, to spend time with them. and we took them to the Leyte landing of Douglas McAurthor, from world war 2. and Elder Cook took me by the shoulder and said that President Boyd k. Packer was also in this Leyte landing during WWII. it was just really awesome to talk with an apostle, and he shook my hand, and touched my shoulder...haha it was cool. They are just normal people that do extra ordinary things.. and when we dropped him off, he complemented me and my companion, and just said that we were great missionaries and he could tell by just looking at us. so it really made us feel good to spend time with some Apostles of the Lord. so that was an awesome experience..

Also, like you heard, there was an Earthquake here friday night (our time). and i have felt 3 or 4 before this, and this was def. the strongest. at first, we thought it was just a little earth quake...and then it got stronger,...and stronger...then seconds past, and then it wasn't stopping...i'm not going to lie, it was a little freaky when it got stronger and wasn't stopping. the whole building was just shaking..and the walls looked like jello and the floor was like walking on one of those mechanical surf boards.. it was pretty intense, but also the coolest feeling.. we were in the mission office planning, and luckily it is an earth quake proof building. and then the power went out. and then we had to stay up calling all the missionaries making sure they were ok. and then Eastern Samar, we have some missionaries over there that had a tsunami warning, but luckily it never came.. the center of the Earthquake was out in the ocean by eastern samar, and it was a 7.9 magnitude in Eastern Samar, and a 6.1 here in Tacloban i thing.., but we are all good, everyone is safe. so don't worry, just a way cool/intense experience!

Also, we have one cool investigator that we are teaching, his name is Jim and he is from Florida. he is an American. and he gave us some of the updates on Mit Romney! he said that he is really doing good,and that he really like what mit Romney is doing. so it was cool to hear the updates.. but you guys would know more than i do...but anyways, we prepared to teach jim about keeping the sabbath day holy, and we shared with him Mosiah 13:16-19, and before he started reading, he already knew what we were going to teach him, he kinda felt like we were giving him a guilt trip (in a joking way) but anyways, we taught him, and it was such a good lesson. he tried really hard to get out of it by saying.."i think i can still work on sundays and still keep it holy.." and then we said, well it states very clearly that we shouldn't work on sundays.. and he was like, "I know I know, you guys are right..i should follow this". and it was just an awesome lesson, we promised him blessings, and committed him to come to church, cuz that was what was stopping him from progressing,,he was always working on sundays. so he committed, and when we left he said" see you guys tomorrow at church..." so we were so happy! it was very spiritual, and we just felt so good to finally get out and teach some one.... 

now you're probably wondering if he came to church....well, the next morning he cancelled on us..he couldn't make it! dang! so he didn't come :( it was pretty heart breaking! but we have faith that he can do it. but we did our part, and the lesson was great! i love teaching! its so fun!

And one more cool thing this week, this morning i got my Filipino License!! I Can Drive now! its so sweet! it feels so weird to be driving again! i haven't driven in so long... and its so different driving here..its like they have no traffic rules!! people just go as fast as they want, and in and out of lanes, and passing people when ever you can...on either side of the rode...you gotta see it, its crazy, so i finally got my license and can drive now, its pretty exciting.

Well, i really am loving it! we finally got time to get in a lesson or two. thats the hard part about this calling, never have time to work in our area. we just planned out our month, and every week this month we will be gone, travelling the mission and going on splits from tuesday to friday...this whole month. so it will be so busy, and time is going by so fast! but i am loving it, and it is def. Helping me become more responsible. i love being so close to President Andaya, i know he is Called of God, and he has helped me so much! i have so much respect and love for that man. and you know, he actually reminds me of Dad! i just see Dad in his face when i look at him. i feel a connection with him, its neat. so he really reminds me of Dad. I love them Both!!:) they are def. two people that have really impacted my life for good and made/making me a better person! I love my mission, and doing my best to serve with no regrets! I love our savior, and His Gospel. i know this Really is HIS church, and we are so blessed to be apart of it.

I love you all! have a great week!!

Love, Elder Nelson

ps. after the earthquake, we thought that all the catholic churches and Iglesia ni Cristo's fell to the earth....but not yet...but it was close!

Hey, so as you can see the subject line, we had an earthquake last night. and President Andaya wanted us to email our families and tell you that we are ok. so yep, we are still alive...so far. we were in the office last night planning, and then our desks started moving..we thought nothing of it at first..just felt like a normal earthquake at first that we felt last January but then it got stronger, and stronger, then it wasn't stopping. it got pretty strong, and then the power went out. it lasted for like 45 seconds..which is pretty long for an earthquake (is what i am told.) compared to the last earthquake in january, that lasted for like 8 seconds..so this one was pretty big..biggest one i've felt for sure. it was awesome tho!!! God is so powerful! so yeah, we are ok, as far as i know, there are no fallen buildings... but as for us missionaries...we are ok. and Tacloban is safe against tsunami's. so no worries. all is well! I love you all!!
talk to you all on monday! :)
Love you!
Love, Elder Nelson