Monday, March 31, 2014

Saving Lives from Jack Fruit! :)

Still cold there eh? Well you guys can have all the warm weather you want from the Philippines! I thought last week was hot. This week is probably only 2 degrees hotter but that actually makes the difference between just melting to death and actually burning to death.

Wow! 2900 hits on my blog? Holy cow that's a lot! ha-ha. Seems crazy doesn't it? Hi world :). How come I have had that many hits and I have only received 256 emails? Just kidding! - that is a LOT of emails and I hardly have enough time to reply to the ones I get sent each week. That's more emails then Elder Richards has received and he has been here longer than me!! :)

Tell Ryley, if you have the chance, to make sure he pushes through the MTC. Tell him that it is way harder then the field. Oh and also tell him to beware of missionary shock. Lots of times missionaries get to the field and then find out that not all missionaries are obedient and have trouble getting over that.

I really wish I had an incredible missionary story every week but I haven't hit that point in my mission yet! But what I can do is bare my testimony of the work that is happening out here. I know without a shadow of a doubt that I am doing exactly what I am supposed to be doing with my life at this time in my life. I am so grateful to be sent here to the Philippines and I know that this is where I am meant to be. Yes there are challenges daily (example - the language), but I know that I can overcome them each and everyday as long as I put my trust in the Savior and continue to do what He wants me to do. My family knows this already but before my mission I was a very picky eater and while I was in the MTC I was genuinely worried about the food here. It almost sounds silly but I was more worried about the food then I was about the language! :) I prayed several times while in the MTC that I might be able to overcome that small challenge in my life and since I have been in the field I haven't tried anything that I didn't instantly like. I have a strong testimony of prayer and I know that through sincere prayer we can overcome all things. I know this church I serve is true and that Christ really did atone for each and everyone of us.

To end on a lighter note I saved someone's life on Saturday, or at least a sure trip to the Hospital. In one of the photos I sent home I am holding a 20 pound spiky fruit called a Jack Fruit (thank goodness it wasn't a Duran). One of the members was climbing a Jack Fruit tree and found a really nice ripe fruit was going to try to take it down. Long story short he dropped it. A member was sitting right under the tree. I was just barely able to reach out and kind of catch the Jack Fruit (more so change the direction of it as it fell cause it was freaking heavy) just before it hit the sister on the head. When you think of Jack Fruit, just imagine a really dense watermelon covered in sharp spikes. Now imagine that being dropped from 20 feet up and then hitting your hands. Not fun. This Sunday morning they were really bruised up! Better my hands then her head though! :)

Oh ya and mom I don't mean to say I told you so about the shoes but I did. I should of got some basketball shoes before I left but now my nice running shoes have holes in them... Also I don't want to ask for very much but could you guys get your hands on some new Active Ankle braces and send me them? Mine are really beat up. Mas maganda kung black :)  (Better if they were black). Oh and stick deodorant would also be awesome. They don't make it here. They only have crappy roll-on liquid stuff. Mas maganda kung Old Spice.  ha-ha.

Well I think that is it for this week. Oh and I may or may not either buy a nice watch or some sick Nikes for my birthday :). Well things are going great and the work is still progressing. Sorry if this email has a billion mistakes. I have no time to correct them ha-ha.

Love you all lots and thank you all for reading my blog. :)

Elder Nielson  
     The only air conditioning I get in the next two years!
 The giant Jack Fruit! Check out that duct taped table!! And all the bars on the windows! And my giant smile! :)
Barbeque Time!
 Nothing like a healthy missionary breakfast! Art Attack! :)
 Joseph's Baptism Day
Not sure he should be up there!
Can you spy him now? Pretty high up!
 A little different view than the Prairies!
 Yikes!
Fresh coconut from the tree! 
Worn right through! Humidity is hard on stuff like this!!

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