One...more...time...

Haha something I thought you would enjoy. Every time we have an investigator who is telling the same stories over and over, we start saying this in English... one more time... and we try and make each other laugh... maybe I am a bad missionary, but I have already heard this story 7 times!! Haha I am glad I can write you all once again, although I am sorry you have to read my letters! Let me know how I can improve!!

1. Once again with prayer... I had another great opportunity with prayer this week. I am so amazed that we have this blessing in our lives!! A thought I had yesterday is that it doesn’t matter if it is a 3 year old repeating the words of his father, or a general authority, heavenly father is going to listen. There is a phrase in Jesus the Christ that says... "God without prayer is still god, but people without prayer can’t enter the kingdom of god." that was pretty powerful for me!

2. Elder Dominguez, one of the zone leaders, gave a talk yesterday in sacrament meeting. He talked about how we all have things that we need to drop; these things are addictions, or fears, etc. HE said that if we don’t drop these things, we can’t advance in this life. We can’t become better. It might be obvious, and it was more powerful in Spanish, but it really hit me. I am a missionary, serving the lord and talking with people about how they can come closer to god, but am I working my hardest to become a better person? PMG says in chapter one that one of the signs that we are successful missionaries is that we are becoming like Christ. That is something that I think I am doing, but I need to do more!! I have a new goal! I am going to apply one of the principles of chapter six of pmg, about the attributes of charts, to my life every week! I am going to start this next Thursday, if you want to do it too, we can grow closer to charts together!

3. This week, we had a goal to have 6 baptisms. Haha it is crazy I know, but we had this goal. Surprisingly, it was pretty realistic. We were set on all of these people, but mostly because we wanted to have baptisms this transfer... one day, the zone leaders talked to us about this goal. I learned a lot from them. They asked us how we knew that these people were prepared, and we answered our best, but realized that they really weren’t prepared. I read about zeniff this week in the book of Mormon. He was zealous to obtain land, and because of it, his descendants ended up in bondage. I also remembered the verse in 4 Nephi about the false churches, and how they gave ordinances to people who were not worthy. I almost did that. I almost caused these people to make a covenant that they couldn’t keep, that is scary to think, but it is the truth!! We repented, and changed our plans. Now, we are focusing on those who are ready for this Saturday, and working with those who aren’t for the next weeks. That is the way it should be. I believe in following the counsel of our leaders, and am really grateful for my leaders!

4. It is really hot in Paraguay right now... I am dying!! Haha and all of the Paraguayans just say, "Wait until December and January, then you will die." haha it will be wired to have sun on Christmas!!

5. You all need to read the letter that dad sent me! Haha I was overwhelmed with the gratitude he has! We are blessed to be in this family, and to have our parents! I am glad to have our family. We are a family in the church, which means that we have the chance to live forever together!! I am really glad that I have that knowledge! We talked about families in our gospel principles class, and the roles of different people! I know that mom and dad are doing their job, but bear, porter, Hannah, me, Nat, and boskie, maybe we can step it up! Our parents are really smart, and have the reason in all of the arguments! I wish I would have acknowledged that more before my mission! Sorry mom and dad! I will be better after my mission!! I promise!!

6. I found out something great this week! My companion knows the song, "prayer of the children" and we sing it together now!! Haha it is a blast! He is really awesome! I have learned a lot from him these 5 weeks, and am looking forward to this next week too!

7. The lord has so many blessings for all of us! We can receive these blessing when we are obedient!! I love you all, please read your scriptures every day, please pray, please work on becoming better! We all have work to do!

I love you! Given um heaven, Elder Chelson

p.s. pray for Francesca-she needs to get married, and raquelita-she need permission to be baptized!!

pp.s. BYU!!!

Oh, and... Halloween is not a thing here... or day of the dead... haha that was a sad notice for me... oh well, I can give people a treat with the gospel!! Love you all!

che he te'teri

hola, como estan? todo tranquilo aqui en mi area! voy a escribir una carta para ustedes, y espero que disfruten

1. I have fallen in love again with the book of Mormon! I am amazed at the doctrine that it teaches! Almost 600 years before Christ, the prophets knew his name. For all of this time, the people looked forward to his coming! His coming was all that the worthy people wanted! They were obedient, and strove to do what was right! They worked hard to stay a people of the lord. We can learn so much from them.

2. Porter and dad tell me a lot to read with my investigators, and that is something that we tried to do this week. We read form the best chapters, including Alma 7 and 3 Nephi 11 and moronic 10 with lots of people! They all loved it, and are trying to find an answer if it is true. I know that it is true, and I want so badly for them to know it too! So my question for you all is... do you know it is true?? Find out for yourself!! (Even dad, you can pray again to know if it is true)

3. I am struggling to remain focused with my companion. He loves oldies in English... and is always singing songs like... "I see skies of blue..." or "have you ever seen the rain..." haha and these songs always are in my head... that is something bad. I am trying to remain focused, but aflkeñjaielfmae... it is hard.

4. I love elder goody, he is such a good missionary. We can teach together so well! I am dreading this next transfer, one, because I most likely will be going, two, because I will never be companions with him again, and three... we have so many good investigators right now!! So many!!

5. I was struggling in a study session this week, and couldn’t focus. I needed to use the bathroom, so of course I went to grab a liana to read... hahahahahaha... and it was a really good one! About the book of Mormon!! There was an article in it that was amazing, about the love of Christ that is shown in the book! You should all read it! It is by elder nelson, and it is the ensign of October 2011!

6. I am at a loss on what to say... we are having great success with lessons, and finding people, and all of my converts are doing well, but we are not finding baptisms!! I know I am crazy for baptisms, but that is because I know that these people can’t receive salvation without it!! Pray for them, please!!

7. I love the people here, they are so great! More than the people, I love the mission! I love serving people every day, with something that I love. I really do know that god has love for all of us, and that he wants us to be happy. This happiness is found in the gospel of Jesus Christ!!

8. Guillermo had a great quote this week that I am going to share with you all to end my terrible letter... "I want to be like Jesus Christ. And also, Bob Marley." you have a week to let me know what that means... haha I love you all,

Elder Chelson, given um heaven!!

¿Hola, como están?

Hey there family! I love you all!

1. Guillermo!! I have a great story for you all! This week, we had a day that started off really hard. No one was in there house, and all of our plans fell. I was really disheartened, and I told my companion that I was a little upset. I said nothing else can go wrong, and in that moment I dropped my agenda, on accident. I was really upset, and fuming, but my companion in that same time looked back to see what was wrong, and saw a door. He went right away to knock, and within 2 seconds, we saw a 14 year old boy, with a huge smile! He told us that he wanted to listen, so we went in his house and had a great lesson 1. he asked questions like, "but how can I know that he was a prophet?" he also said, "this is so new, but if the church of Christ fell after the death of the apostles, of course this was needed!" haha we can basically say that he is a great investigator! He left his church early yesterday to come with us! He read in 3 Nephi 11, and said that he could imagine it. We talked a little about it, and showed him the picture in the book of Mormon for this story, and he said "that is same picture that was in my mind." haha he is prepared!!

2. I love this work. I was reading in the scriptures this week, and noticed that a lot of times it says that this is a great and marvelous work, something that is the truth!! I know that! This week I saw miracles every day! We have been trying to find people with our contacts that are ready to listen, and I think that we have found at least 2 or 3 every day. So many people here are ready to listen to the gospel!

3. I had one of my investigators give her testimony yesterday, and she did it with power!! I was so happy!! Haha she talked about prophets, and how she listened to conference and received an answer to her prayers and questions! She is one of those people that were prepared for us to teach!!

4. I am convinced that the lord wants us to be happy. So... be happy! I am glad that I have this opportunity to serve in Paraguay! This week I realized something. I love my area! When I think about my mission in the future months, I think about time here in coronel Oviedo! I feel like Ammon with the king. I would live here for all of my life, if you all were here! Haha but I have fallen in love with the people in Paraguay! I love this opportunity to serve among the chosen people of god here in Paraguay!!

5. I am sad to hear about this missionary from victor. Pray for his family. He doesn’t need help, he is with god. I am glad that we have this knowledge that we can be families forever! We never know what will happen tomorrow, so live today like you were going to see god tomorrow!! I love you all! Be safe, and go and show someone your love!!

Elder Chelson, given um heaven!!

Che Paraguayo y Te Coanga

Haha I love using Guarani for my subjects!! So funny! I love you all, and am glad I can write you all today. I hope I can strengthen your testimonies with my words today. I am safe and happy, and... Here.. we... go...

1. I don’t know if I have said this yet, but I finish my journal almost every day with the phrase "I love the Lord." This week I read in 2 Nephi 4, which are the words of Nephi. I loved it. I listen to this song; I love the lord, while reading the words in the Scriptures! I am so blessed to have him as my savior and redeemer! You should all try reading this chapter! You will feel so inspired I just know it! President Uchtdorf in the ensign has a quote, "God created the universe for you." Holy cow! We are so important to god! Why?? Haha because we are sons and daughters of God! (Also, if you turn to 2 Nephi 4, why not read chapter 9 too! it is amazing!!)

2. Something that I learned in conference this weekend was an overall theme. I think that a lot of the prophets talked about how terrible this world is. We live in hard times. There are so many difficulties and sadness’s, so many things that just don’t seem right. We have two options. We can be sad and angry, like Satan wants, or we can be happy and loving, like the Lord wants us to! We will all experience sadness, but also we have the lord on our sides! President Eyring said something like "god will always love us." so simple but true. God will always love us. There is nothing I can do that will change that. It is the same with you all!

3. I am especially grateful for the talk by Elder Ballard. He talked about the mission work, but he also talked about prayer. He said, essentially, that prayer is really important. I am not going to lie; I was a little bit irritated Saturday night. We had an investigator flat our lie and not come to conference. We called him and said yeah, 5 minutes... and then didn’t come. I was still upset on Sunday morning during my personal study. I was reading in the Book of Mormon, and felt inspired to go to Alma 26. This was a blessing from god. In my short time in my mission, I have been blessed to meet amazing people, and god has brought them to the church. They are now members, and are some of my best friends. This chapter is the words of Ammon about his converts. I was in tears. Verse 22 talks about what I can do to be better as a missionary and one of the things is to pray continually. I thought that was interesting, and I turned to read in true to the faith about prayer. (There is a phrase that says if you don’t feel worthy to pray, pray until you feel worthy- I liked that) It says in this section that we need to pray out loud sometimes, and I took it as a sign. I went to the other room to finish my study, and I prayed. It was amazing. I know that god listens and answers our prayers. I received so much comfort in this prayer. I am so glad that I am loved of God. I hope this experience inspires you all! Go somewhere personal and quiet, and pray. Talk with your heavenly father, and give thanks. Ask for help. He will give you blessings!

4. I watched all of conference in Spanish. Remember that storm from the other week? Yeah, it destroyed the satellite. So we had to listen to the internet. Not watch, listen. It was amazing to me. It was way different, that is for sure, but the people here were smiling. I was a little bit surprised. They are so happy to hear the voice of someone else who is saying what the prophet is saying. But it wasn’t his voice. That is real faith. They will probably never meet him, or see him in real life. They will probably never hear his real voice (and understand him), but they know he is a prophet, and they know that he speaks for god. They do what he says. So amazing!

5. I love Paraguay! So many blessings here!! So many great people! I love the Lord. HE loves me!

I love you all! Apply the words of the prophets, and read the scriptures. Pray. You will be happy!! I love you. Given um Heaven!!

Elder Chelson