I took a foto of the dust storm. That´s us in the truck. 

Well I got transferred to la chona a tiny little pueblo in between CD Juarez and Casas Grandes. It´s really interesting because we´re 4 missionaries 2hrs away from Juarez and 2hrs from Casas Grandes in bus. (oh if you guys didn´t find it, I’m in Ascencion). My companion is E. Rodriguez he´s from Russia. The branch that I´m in is Ascension. Yesterday 50 people showed up.  

So Monday I enjoyed my last couple of hours in the city before leaving. Tuesday I said goodbye and headed to the offices where we took omnibus to ascension. The omnibus is so much fun because the normal buses here are old school buses jammed with people. So the private omnibuses are a whole lot more fun. 

My second day here we went to an investigator’s house. The whole city here is tiny and they all are ranchers. So when we got there, he had just killed a pig and he started butchering it. It was a little weird because this never happened in the city and it was just in the backyard of some guy. The closest I ever got to seeing it was when you go to Walmart and you’re in the meat section and the guys are cutting the meat into smaller parts. It was cool. 

It was really funny because the chona is known for its dust storms. After a lesson we got a ride in the back of a pick up to go home. I saw a storm coming but it was really weird because it looked like an I. I got really confused but then as the storm got closer I realized that it was a wall of sand. I was like go go go go go go go go go. Fortunately, we got home before it got bad. 

You know how Dad (Travis) always says that he can´t wait for Primary and all that. Me and another elder got primary duty in our tiny branch because the teachers weren’t there. You can ask Marshall what it’s like. Just remind him of the Interact activity at the Elementary school where all of the kids tackled us and we almost had to call in a SWAT team to escape. Needless to say. We were released early from the lion’s den and I don´t think that they will ask us to help again anytime soon. 

I hope that you guys are working with the missionaries. Hopefully you´re the family that they always want to eat with. I have to go but keep doing the right things.

Elder Nelson

So I hope you guys are not too sun burned. I saw the weather over there and it looks pretty toasty.

This past Saturday my companion got a call from the assistants and we found out that he´s pregnant and is going to have another son on the mission. So I got changed out of Ciudad Juarez. I was pretty sad because we have like 3 o 4 bautismos lined up for the next cycle.

This week was really cool. We had one day where it rained which was fun but it wasn´t too fun because it happened when we were out contacting. We stopped under a tree to try not to get soaked. Two things then happed. First I saw a dog in a fenced in yard that didn´t have any cover. He looked really sad and wet. So I laughed at him. He looked so funny and after all of the terrible dogs here in Juarez I felt good to see one sad. Then he got mad at me and started barking. Two, the vesino (neighbor) opened the door and invited us in. It was really cool because they weren't members or anything but they let us in. So before we left we taught them a lesson and I think they might convert to investigators. That was really cool.

Something that we are really working with here is La obra de salvación (The work of Salvation). As missionaries we see the needs of the ward and work to try to fix it by ourselves but it is a two-man team against a 100 200 300 member ward. That`s where the members come in to play. Really the work of salvation is in the hands of the members with the missionaries there to interview and help where needed. In fact, the members can find, teach and baptize if they want to. The only thing a missionary has to do is interview them. Anyways the work of Salvation is broken into 5 parts: The work of the members, Reactivation of the less actives, retention of the menos activos, Family history and the work of the temple, and the teaching of the gospel. My invitation for you guys is to help in the work of salvation. Everyone has a part. Visit the less actives, befriend the converts, go on visits with the missionaries, do family history. I know that here the less actives open their doors when we have members with us but not when we try to visit without members. You guys have a great responsibility and chance to help in the work.

I have to go but I´ll write next week. I hope that you guys help in the work of salvation.

Elder Nelson

This week went by so fast I hardly remember what happened. I remember that on the way here we took a bus route. And.... oh ya I remember something. 

So Thursday we went to go visit a less active lady in the ward. She's from Veracru, so she likes to cook stuff from there plus she has a shop where she sells cheese, meats, veggies. We were teaching her and she says. I feed you on Sunday what do you want. And honestly I don't remember what happened at this point because after a few minutes she ended up deciding to give us menudo. I know that on Page 75 of Predicad mi evangelio it says we should Orar a menudo (pray often) but I had heard some crazy stuff so I was skeptical. Actually, this picture I took is what I thought was menudo.

So the day comes to try menudo and I was really scared. I didn't want to eat the cow stomach soup. We came we sat down and it was ok. It was hot and I was sweating like a dog but it just tasted like a soup of chicharrones (skin and fat of pig) so it wasn’t too bad. 

Anyways so that happened. I did it. I never did like soups.

Last Monday we went back to my old stomping grounds to visit the segundas (second hand stores). We took a picture of the Sierra la biblia while we were there. 

My companion I guess is collecting alarm clocks. At this point he has 6 annoying children who cry every morning at 6:20. I found out that I am not a very happy person before 6:20. Sometimes I hear dogs barking at 615 in the morning and I get up to throw rocks at them.

I wish I had pictures but after we had our coordination meeting on Thursday we walked back through the desert at about 8:15 pm. It was dark and we had a storm coming in behind us so we were walking pretty fast. Then I looked behind me and saw a wall of sand coming towards us. We started sprinting as fast as we could towards the house. I don’t know if the dumb wall ever made it to us. I expected to feel it or get slammed or something but after 10 minutes of running we gave up and nothing happened. But it was cool.

We had a really cool experience with one of our investigators. we lost contact with him for about a week. He was a drunk bum that contacted us and really we were going to drop him but we taught him the word of wisdom and when we made contact again he was sober and we could tell that everything was different. He was happy and not as mental. It was really cool. And the best thing is that at last we get to teach him about the gospel.

That's how my week went. I was super cool to get your letters. I usually get them every month at the zone meeting. I even got one from the YSA which was cool but they sent it to Mexico which was funny.

Anyways I love you guys lots.

Elder Nelson