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

Hey!
so just like the subject line says, I got Emergency Transferred!! remember how i have been sharing with you all about how much i love my new area, companion, members and so forth...well last monday, after email, about an hour or so later, i got a call from President Andaya, and he said, "elder, pack your bags, you're being emergency transfered"... and man, when i heard those words i think my heart stopped! he told me to be at the mission office the next day with my bags at 7am to meet my new companion and be put in my new area...so i was so shocked! i had every possible thing going thru my head about where i am going. i seriously thought i was going to be transferred to some random, in the middle of no where, area with some missionary that needed help. thought i was stepping down from zone leader..i thought of every possibility. i was so upset that i was transfering, life was SO good! i was loving everything!
but, so i went to the mission office the next morning, and president Andaya took me into his office, and asked why i think i am being Emergency transferred, and i told him i have no idea. and then he said, well Elder Johnson (the AP) is going home on friday, so i would like to call you to be the new Assistant...so yeah, there you have it, thats why i was emergency transferred.. i am the new assistant to President Andaya! its quite humbling and exciting! i am actually really excited, at the same time, still in shock that he called me as the new AP. All the AP's since i have been here have died in the office, meaning they were AP up until they went home. so i wasn't expecting it cuz i still have a while to go. so i will either be AP for 8 months, or step down my last 1 or 2 cycles...so we'll see. and most of the AP's gain about 20-30 lbs in the office...so thats the curse for being in the office...but i hope i don't cuz..yeah, thats just big!!
but it is good tho, i am excited to be around President Andaya a lot! he seems serious all the time but he is actually quite a joker! and as soon as Manila gives me my Passport back, i get to get my Philippines Drivers license!!! i am so excited to finally drive again!! its really exciting!

And even better, tomorrow, elder Cook is coming to Tacloban for A missionary Fireside for us. and guess who picks him up from the Airport?? WE DO!!! so i get to meet elder Cook, elder Nielson of the Seventy(he was the area presidency in Idaho i think), elder Callister of the seventy, and their wives! and we get to take pictures with them. so i am excited to meet an apostle of the Lord!
But now, i am going to be super super busy! as for as missionary work...we work when we can. since i have been here this past week, we've had one lesson! thats it! but we do our best to find time to work. thats going to be weird tho, but some how i just have to realize that i will helping other missionaries as well. i read a cool quote from President Monson this week, he said something like, "we won't be asked how many positions we held, but rather, how many people did we help?" so that really hit me and comforted me. i know this calling is to help others..help missionaries bring others unto Christ. and i will do my best to help them.
as for my companion, he is Elder Ausban. he was actually my 1st Zone leader when i got here in the mission, and now we are companions.haha its kinda funny. but he is awesome! we get a long great! he is from Stockton California and goes home in 6 weeks. its weird seeing everyone going home now. i feel like i just got here! but life is good! i am loving it! even tho my appartment doesn't have air con...the office does and the cars do so i guess its ok..haha Jk. life is good, i am loving the mission.

We did have a family come to church for the first time that is not yet members. and they are awesome. we haven't taught them yet becuase of time, but they are so ready, they are golden investigators. they have two little kids, and wants them to grow up in the church, and the mom said that she was wondering which church she should go to church at, cuz there are so many. and they really liked church yesterday, so i think they will really progress. we just felt so blessed because even tho we are so busy, we still are being blessed with success in our area. so thats one of the blessings this week. so i hope you have a great week! kids starting school now?? tell everyone i say hi! can't wait to hear from you. i miss you all and love you all! hope all is well! love you!
Love, Elder Nelson