Jesus is a Friend of Mine!!

I chose this title for this week because one day, I was studying about Jesus Christ and that song popped in my head! Got to love Christian rock bands!!

1. I am really happy this week!! Like.... really happy!! I don’t really know how to explain it, but I feel like I can see so many blessings in my life! Paraguay is so beautiful!! it has a different beauty than Idaho and Utah, as there is literally nothing, but I think it is so awesome how the people are just out in the streets playing football, or how everyone just screams "elders!!!" as we walk by! I think it is literally a blessing to be able to live here!!

2. Mom, I told you I had good news for you all, and here it is!! After about 4 months without a baptism, this week, we are going to have 3!!! These people are as ready for us as the gospel that it isn’t funny! We are going to baptize the lady named marcilina, who has more faith than half of the quorum of the 12!! she has a son, named victor, how survived a fall from 20 meters on a building, and has dedicated his life to the lord, who just happens to be "Joe jr." also we are going to baptize a 12 year old who after three years finally got his permission! They are excited, and I am too!!

3. I just watched porter dancing again... thanks!!

4. This week, I ate a nice stew of cat and dog. I am not lying!! Now, it tastes a little bit like a really great mix of bread and steak! Haha I am really grateful for this meal, however, because it was a convert, who is trying to get on his mission, and he doesn’t really have much money to do it! It is so inspiring to see his testimony through his actions! Mom and dad, do you feed the missionaries! That is something I didn’t realize before my mission. That there always seems to be "someone else" to feed them, but that really means that they are going to eat a nice mix of bananas and eggs with a little bit of bbq sauce, which was the lunch of my comp this week! I had ramen, so it is alright! Hahaha but really, get on that!!

5. This week, we cut down a tree with a machete!! It is so liberating! I think it is something that I will recommend to the stressed and angry, just to hit a tree with a knife!! Hahaha it was a big tree too, so we had some pretty wicked and almost... dangerous, experiences!  Hahaha I am really glad that we did it, but also really glad that we were safe the whole time!!

6. We just finished eating all you can eat pizza hut, and it was so good!! I personally had 9 pieces, but I think I could have done more if I wasn’t going to work today!!  I am talking a lot about food, but that is just normal for a missionary who isn’t in the states!!

7. I was thinking this week about something great and applicable!! This week I went back to the dentist, and while I was there waiting, I saw so many people there with pain.  I could just see the pain in their eyes! I was thinking that I could feel there pain because I know it, right. That is compassion. I don’t why I never thought about this before, but I say in 3 Nephi that Jesus had compassion on the people after seeing their faces. He knows how we feel. He suffered us, and knows every little hurt! He invites to come unto him and be healed! What a great example of love! I think we can all learn from him every day!!

 I love you all, and hope you are all safe! Em, Nat, and brig, have a good end of the semester, and dad with your classes! Hannah porter and bear, keep it up with your college, and cheer really loud at the buy games!! I love you all!! Be safe!

Elder Chelson

Well... I don't Have Much Time

Haha I don’t have much time today, thanks to this video of porter dancing like crazy!!! I think it is so great! Thanks porter!!

1. I had a little bit of an incedent with my teeth this week! Oh yeah... what luck!! I was awake for about 72 hours... because I couldn’t sleep! I almost pulled out some wicked sleeping pills and... The special pain killer’s bishop gave me, but I figured I had better not! I prayed a lot, and I found that pray works! I got two blessings of health, and in one it was sad that the lord would give me a solution. The next day I went to the dentist and got work done. Now, I must tell you about the second tongue I have! While this dentist was working on me, the suction slipped to under my tongue, it got stuck! The dentist tried pulling it off, and it pulled up a ton of my under tongue, so now it is impossible to talk!! Haha but I am suffering with patience! ;) I believe that this dentist was an answer to my prayers and a gift from god! I know that he is watching over me as one of his servants!

2. I am loving the work here in obrero! We had 6 people in the church this week, and almost all are progressing towards baptisms! One of them is named marcilina, and I have to share with you some of her phrases! "I am not going to miss church all of my life" “I know that joseph smith was a prophet, because god loves Me." what do you think sister, do you want to be baptized? "It is all I want." it is crazy awesome!! I love her!! Haha she is the blackest paraguayo ever! I mean she is like a crazy southern black lady, or at least I think she is!!

3. I had a great experience yesterday, and it is thanks to you all! When I was in the mtc I printed your letters, and I was reading some of them, when I found great advice about what I need to do as a missionary! One of them, from dad, said that I should sit and read the the people, and show them that I love the book of Mormon! So we did that yesterday with one of our investigators who is struggling to find an answer! We read 2 Nephi 4, and I shared my testimony about how the lord loves us all! He said that he believed that Nephi wrote that for us, because god knew we would struggle! It was so good!! I loved it! We felt the spirit strongly! I also read letters from porter about reading and praying, and from Em and Hannah about praying! I know that you guys know this all, and I am grateful for your help!

4. I love when I am sitting in the lessons, and we can see someone connecting all of our teachings! Yesterday we asked a very catholic man the question, can god talk to men today? right after teaching the first vision, and his eyes light up! He felt the spirit, and he promised he would pray! I know that this I s the lords work!!!

5. I was reading in Jesus the Christ today, which I will finish tonight!! It has a phrase that I am going to share to finish!! "The gospel of Jesus Christ is the embodiment of liberty. It is the truth that shall make free every man and every nation who will accept and obey its precepts"

I give my witness that this is the church of god, and that I am working in his work! I know that I am blessed and protected and that he is preparing his children for me!

Elder Chelson

What a Great Week!

Hey there family!!

1. I had really awesome week this week! I didn’t have any baptisms, but I had so much success personally, and my investigators too, that I am just filled with joy! I literally cannot tell you all of the things that are happening, but I hope you all know that I will try!

2. I had a great expense this week with prayer! We were sitting in the rain, at about 8 15, and it was pouring. We didn’t have anything to do, but elder Shelby thought about a less active member, so I thought yeah, let’s go. The thing is, we have an area that is just a hill, so we are walking up hill in a stream. We saw that the huge cemetary in our area was open, and for so rediculously crazy reason, we wanted to walk through it! So we went, and it was dark, and I was scared, and I heard voices like the pirates of the carribean ride at Disneyland, and I was scared, and I never looked behind me, and I prayed. You get the point. Well we got to the other side and we found that the gate at this part was locked. I am freaking out because I didn’t want to walk through it again, and elder Shelby didn’t either. We looked and saw that the wall at this point was about 8 feet high, but it was our only option, so we decided to try and jump it. I can’t jump, but with a miracle I jumped over and was saved from the monsters! We then continued to the house of this less active, and when we got there, this lady was praising the lord scream hallelujah! She was so happy to see us! She had been praying that someone would come to her house to help her move her couch out of the rain! We were an answer to prayers, and for that reason we had to go through the cemetary and jump the fence and all! I know that god listens to our prayers!

3. I was thinking this week about the love that Jesus must have had for us, and I was trying to find scriptuers to help me figure it out. I came to a conclusion this Friday, however, that I will never quite know just how much love he had for us! He died for us, so that we could all be free!! "I stand all amazed" makes tons of sense to me now!

4. I have some pretty sweet goals for this year, and I was thinking about them a lot today! One of the things I want to do is finish 3 of the standard works in Spanish, and with that I am reading tons, and learning tons, I am so greatful for the scriputes in my life!

5. I was reading today in the gospel doctrines book, and I found something crazy awesome in chapter 7! It talks about the Holy Ghost, and it has really great phrases! One of them said that the spirit gives us manifiestations that are more long lasting then even seeing angels, or the son of god! It says that these experiences will fade, but our promptings of the spirit wont! How great that god answers our questions with the most powerful way!! I was thinking about this idea and found a great example! Alma the younger saw an angel, and had his huge repentance right? Well it says in Alma 5 that he gained his knowledge and testimony through the spirit! How great is that! I am glad for the Holy Ghost in my life. I am glad I was born in the covenant, because I can’t remember many times without the guidence of the spirit! What a blessing for all of us!

I love you all, and hope you all have a great successful year in work and school! Build your testimonies!!

Elder Chelson, given um heaven!