Hello Family

Hello family.. how is everyone doing back in good old sunny and warm Utah? I hope everyone is doing great! So I didn´t get to make a letter outline this week because I thought our P-Day was going to be tomorrow.. so hopefully I get everything in that I want to say and tell you about. So Brian told me you guys you got a chance to watch the Missionary Broadcast.. how did you guys like it? We watched it all in Spanish so I didn´t get as much out of it as I would have liked but what can you do? We went to Concepcion today for our misson conference to say goodbye to our mission parents. It was a little sad as I have gotten pretty close to Hermana Humphrey because of all my health problems hahaha. Anyways as you all know, I have my 3rd companion already here in Chile! His name is Elder B, and as I already told you, he is very serious. He is from Uruguay, and guess how old he is? No not 18, or 19, 20, or 21. Not even 22, 23, 24, or 25, but 26 years old ladies and gentlemen! I guess he´s got quite a bit of a reputation around the mission for being incredibly hard to get along with, but it would´ve been weird if I had it any different right? Haha I´m funny sometimes. I like to laugh. This week we have been working really hard with James. I have told you a little about him, and he is having the hardest time with the Law of Chastity. He doesn´t even live with his girlfriend, but they have a relationship and he is having a hard time to have the desire to stop. He has a daugher as well, and here´s the problem. If he gets married to his girlfriend, the girlfriend´s mom won´t pay for the daughters school, or the girlfriend´s school. He says he can´t afford to pay for it himself, so that is the problem. The first time my companion met him, he told me he didn´t want to meet with him anymore. The zone leader was like umm no Elder B, James is super good and Elder Neilson and Elder L have made a lot of progress. We´ve had a lesson with him with the zone leader, and the district leader. James told me that he doesn´t like Elder Bueno at all, and that he misses Elder L. He always asks me to go with him up to Talca and visit Elder L.. haha he´s so funny. We are still going to work with him and see what we can do. So about my wrist.. when I went to go get my X-Ray, the doctor couldn´t tell if it was fractured or not. He told me if it continues to hurt, I would need to go see a specialist. It´s been 3 weeks, or a month, and it´s still killing me. I called the area doctor, and he thinks I damaged some ligaments in my wrist. He told me it could take in between 3 months and a year to actually heal. That was definitely not what I wanted to hear because it has been keeping me up at night. I need to continue to wear this wrap, and he was a little worried that it might not heal right. I guess that´s my worry right now.. things like that you really should have physical therapy for if it takes that long to heal and it´s something as important as the wrist. I was up all night one night and my companion made me call Hermana Humphrey the next day to see what she suggested. She didn´t answer, but she asked about it today. Anyways I don´t know what else to do about it but just wait and see what happens. We all got to individually say goodbye to the mission parents today. As I got up on the stage to say goodbye to Hermana Humphrey.. she got tears in her eyes as she started to talk to me. She told me that she couldn´t believe all that had happened to me while I´ve been here in Chile. She said she truly believes Satan sees what I can accomplish on my mission, and is trying to do everything he can in his power to keep me from being able to do that. She told me how proud she was of me for sticking through everything when I have had very little go right for me from the very beginning as I stepped foot off the airplane. It was really good to talk to her and it´s sad to see her leave. A lot of the time I feel super down, feel totally different, and have to try and hold back tears. But the Lord gives us trials to humble us and strengthen us. We need to not complain of our trials, but be grateful for them. I am definitely guilty of this and have room for improvement. I have tried many things to try and bring me up.. I have fasted and prayed many times that I would be able to be happy on my mission. The other day, I sat down and made a list of all the blessings I have and the things that I am grateful for. I also watched a talk given by Jeffrey R. Holland. I don´t remember what it was called but it was about the Atonement and why missions are so difficult. But most importantly, I want you all to read this talk that I read the other day by Dieter F. Uchtdorf. I believe it was given in the October of 2012 session. You may all remember it, but I would like everyone to go back, read it, and apply the principles you find in there. It is called ¨Regrets and Resolutions.¨ I was going through the Liahona the other day and came across this and it hit me pretty hard. It´s really crazy how fast time flies. I distinctly remember having Field Day at Bell View Elementary School 7 years ago. I could hardly think about playing with my friends out on the field, but waiting to be checked out of school for a very special occasion. This would be the day that my first nephew would be born. It seems like that day was just yesterday, and Hayden is already 7 years old. We need to remember how short life is in comparison to Eternity, and we shouldn´t have any regrets looking back on life as we are lying on our death bed. We won´t look back and remember the days we worked and how much money we had in the bank, but the days and memories we spent and made with our families. Now work is necessary to support for our families, but we need to make sure there is that balance. I look back and distinctly remember the little things we did as a family or our family vacations and how special those are to me. I just really love this talk and it made me think a lot about how important family is. One thing that is hard for me and my weakness is that I always think about how much we preach/talk about how important the family is, but yet I can´t see mine for 2 years. It is extremely tough for me but I know I am here to bring the joy and happiness we have to other families as well. Anyways I would love it if you guys all could read that talk, think about it, and ponder it while we are all still young! Anyways it sounds like you guys did well at the Wells Fargo picnic party. Weird how I´m not there and everyone miraculously does well and wins stuff. Just more proof of the bad luck I wear on my shoulders everywhere I go. Anyway,  I can´t think of a whole lot more to say.  I love you all and thanks for everything.

For those of you who are interested in reading President Uchtdorf's talk,Go here 

I'm staying in Linares!

P-day

Hello family once again.. First off I want to give a shoutout to Jeffrey Ray Neilson for being the dopest dope father there is! Happy Father´s Day last Sunday Dad... I love you! I appreciate all you do for the family and all your efforts you make in work to provide for me and the family. So I am still here in Linares freezing my buff off! Haha no but for real.. it is freezing right now! But yes changes were today.. and I am staying in Linares! This next change is 8 weeks so I will for sure be here for the next 2 months. My companion will be leaving to Talca to be a Zone Leader, which means he´s off to the Rancagua mission. I will be staying in the Concepcion mission! Sorry Mom.. I know you´re disappointed I won´t be David Archuleta´s companion :( Elder Collins is also leaving to the office to be companions with Elder Arroyo, my first companion! My new companion is going to be Elder Bueno from Uruguay. And the replacement for Elder Collins is also going to be a Latin.  I´m going to be the only gringo in my house. So onto my awesome health.. still the same. My wrist has made no improvement over the past 2 weeks and it´s very painful to twist in both directions. It looks abnormal like you may have noticed in the picture but I can´t really do anything about it. The ¨doctor¨ looked at the X-ray on the computer and said he couldn´t tell if it was fractured or not. So all I can do is wait it out and see what happens. It seems like it should´ve improved a tiny bit over 2 weeks but it hasn´t. It just cracks and pops when I try and twist it.. Anyways I´ll keep you posted. I´ve also still had my migraines and other pains. Haha I´m so ugly.. and no mom that´s just a joke no worries. Anyways ummm remember Evelyn & Martin? Yeah they told us that they are confused about everything and no longer want us to visit them because of that.. which kind of sucks but oh well. We have a really good investigator named James.. I can´t remember if I´ve told you about him. He is about 26 years old and is really funny. I can´t understand a lot of what he says because he mumbles a lot. He said he wants to be baptized and is planning on coming to church. He went 2 weeks ago, but couldn´t last week because he had something going on. I think we are going to have to work with him on the Word of Wisdom and the Law of Chastity so I´ll let you guys know how that goes. On Friday morning, we had a service project at the church. A member asked Elder Collins and me if we could be judges of an English contest! We had to go listen to 5th and 6th graders give speeches and judge them on their confidence and their pronunciation. After that, there was a spelling bee! We had to give them words to spell and then obviously tell them if they were right or wrong. There were a ton of people there to watch because I guess it´s a pretty big deal and they do it every year. In between the speeches and spelling bee, there were performances given by younger kids. They danced and sang to ¨Don´t Stop Believin¨ and ¨You´ll Be in My Heart.¨ I don´t know if that´s the title but it´s from Lion King! It was pretty funny and I have some video of it. By the way none of my pants fit anymore Mom.. I can´t button them up and I have to use my belt to close them up. Saturday night, we had an activity with our branch where we played soccer. Chileans are freaking good at soccer.. haha it was pretty fun but the concrete was all wet from the rain so it was slippery! There was also a marriage on Saturday that I was excited to go to with the other Elders but my companion said we couldn´t go. I was a little disappointed but whatever. Before I forget, next week our P-day will be on Tuesday because we have a conference on Monday. At least I think Tuesday.. so be expecting an email that day and not on Monday. I did get my bike fixed up with brakes. I´ve definitely learned how to fix bikes while I´ve been here. I will be taking Elder Collins bike when he leaves tomorrow because it´s nicer haha. I can´t think of a whole lot else to tell you guys.. I still feel like I´ve hit a wall in Spanish and am still struggling to communicate as well as I´d like but I am trying to stay patient. Sounds like Carter´s birthday party was a success! I can definitely picture Teags being super confused by Spider-Man/Jeremy.. haha oh my gosh so funny. Also Carter jumping into the swamp.. ¨Why´d you do it? ¨I don´t know!¨ Hahaha that kid is so funny. I was also wondering about Seth.. that´s good that he´s just about got his papers in. Let me know when you guys find out where he´s going.. I miss that kid! Anyways thanks for everything and I love you guys so much! I leave you with Tweety Bird´s Seeds of Wisdom: If you´re wondering whether or not a person is a midget.. here is a simple test: gently place the ¨soon to be known midget or not¨ on a street curb, turn around, walk 10 feet, and then turn around again. If you see that their feet are dangling.. you, my friend, have found yourself a midget. 

Trenton Daniel Neilson is doing well in Chile!

Hello all!! How´s it going? Trenton Daniel Neilson is doing well in Chile! First off I want to wish everyone a Happy Birthday! Hayden.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I can´t believe you´re 7 already.. I often told you that you would get to see me again when you´re 8.. time is flying by!  I love you so much buddy and thanks for everything.. you´re such a baller! DJ Teaskie.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! We´ve had so many good times and so many memories growing up together and I want to thank you for that! I often think about how we´re both making this 2 year sacrifice for others and God and it keeps me going a lot of the time! Brayton.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! You´re my brother from another mother and you never fail to make me laugh! Thanks for everything and especially the USB Flashdrive because I use it so much here! Carter.. HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I love you so much and I miss going on bear hunts with you so badly! Your love for monster trucks and bears always makes me laugh! Justin.. CONGRATULATIONS on your engagement! You are also my brother from another mother and you have always just PULLED the ladies! Thanks for everything and I wish you luck! I am going to send some photos with this email so hopefully they work :) This work hasn´t been too bad. I had a mini-cambio with Elder Shumway from Timpview or Mtn. Crest I can´t remember. He played football and basketball so we get along really well. He also loves Blink-182 and AVA so that´s pretty dope. My companion and I have been working with a less active family named the Alegria´s. They have their kids living everywhere in Linares and we´re working on reactivating them and getting their kids baptized. They keep telling us they´ll come to church but they never do so it´s pretty frustrating. The other day I was super hungry and excited to eat lunch when we got to the house and the lady told us she had forgotten. Soooo.. we had to call a new convert that´s 20 years old and she cooked us a quick meal! She loves the missionaries and she´s so nice! 3 days ago, we were contacting and we came across a family of 5! They were great and they had all the desires.. they accepted a fecha and even called us Saturday night telling us how excited they were for church on Sunday! We went to their house a half hour before church like they told us to, and the youngest kid told us they had already left to go to church. However, they weren´t there. We called them, tried to visit them later, but we haven´t gotten a response. We have no idea what happened but we´ll figure it out! We had 1 investigator in church named James. He is really funny and loves messing with me because I can´t understand him. He speaks so fast and like a gangster so it´s nearly impossible.I honestly have felt like I´ve hit a wall here in how much I understand and I´ve been really frustrated with the language. I feel like I should be progressing a lot more than I am right now.. but oh well. Saturday night, we had a movie night for the members and for our investigators. Not a ton of our investigators showed up, but the members really enjoyed it. We watched ¨Up¨ which wasn´t nearly as good as normal because it was in Spanish :( A lady in the ward made some popcorn for everyone so it was pretty fun. Remember that new convert named Claudia I told you about? The really poor one that can´t take care of her kids and the lady we were teaching when the Catholic lady told her to not listen to us anymore? Since that, she is always busy or doesn´t answer the door. Friday night, we went by and she was outside. Guess what? She was smoking.. she saw us, threw her cigarette, and ran inside. It´s so frustrating knowing the Catholic Lady caused this to happen. Oh well.. we´ll see what we can do. Today was a pretty fun P-Day.. we went to a place with a bunch of mountains, a river, and a big dam. Everyone was like wow these mountains are soooo cool! They were taking a bunch of pictures and I was like.. yeah yeah yeah cool a mountain. Hahaha we seriously take our mountains for granted so much! I still took a lot of pictures and I´ll probably send them next week when I´ve gone through them and picked out the ones I like. My wrist is getting a little better.. I can dress myself now but for the past 3 days it hasn´t progressed in healing. There´s one part that hurts a ton when I move it in a certain direction but I´m trying to wait it out. Yeah I´ve still had my other problems mom.. but I guess the doctor thinks my migraines and stomach pain are from anxiety or something like that and doesn´t know if it´ll go away. I guess some missionaries get it when they´re so far away from their family.. it sucks thinking it might never go away and I´m just taking it day by day right now. I fixed up my bike but I don´t have brakes but that´s on our to-do list today.. as well as register my visa or something like that.

So I´m looking back at your email mom and am going to try and answer some of your questions.  I didn´t have a choice where to go to the hospital. That´s the only place in Linares with an X-Ray machine I guess and it´s super ghetto. I had to use my own money and it cost like 80 bucks but I´m getting reimbursed soon. We haven´t seen the Catholic lady much lately but I already told you about what happened with Claudia. Yes, the Pulsipher´s are super nice and he actually did serve a mission in Chile when he was younger. Keep checking their blog and let me know if she posts the picture. Probably not because I am SO hideous :) I´ve got all the missionaries saying that now and they think it´s pretty funny hahaha. That sucks you weren´t able to go to President Arrington´s farewell.. I wonder when they´ll arrive in Chile. Changes are next week but I think Humphrey´s will be here for like 3 more weeks. Next week, I could get changed, or my companion could also.. we don´t really know. It´s possible I could still go to Rancagua.. it depends on next week´s tranfers so I´ll let you know next week! That´s cool you met Sean and Trio! I actually hung out with Trio quite often before I left with Dakota Jake and them.. we always played FIFA together! Do you know what day they are leaving? Also.. could you forward me some emails of Emily Lloyd´s? I´m curious how she´s doing just a little bit south of me! Also.. could you check up on Ryan Sperry and Hadden Wiese´s letters? They´re supposed to be in the MTC for 6 weeks.. but changes are next week and they will have only been in the MTC for 4 weeks.. well at least Ryan. I´m not sure what day Hadden left but I´m trying to figure out when they´ll be coming to Chile. Maybe their letters are on facebook or something who knows. Who leaves the soonest from our ward? Is it Parker on the 31st or what? I´m jealous I wasn´t able to be at Hayden´s dope birthday party! It sounded awesome and that everyone had a good time. You better believe if I was there I would´ve been dressed up with Jeremy playing with all the kids! Keep me updated on Grandma.. she doesn´t sound like she´s doing too well :( How is Grandpa holding up? Oh my gosh.. Brian thanks for the pictures! One of the pictures I was in absolute shock.. the one of Dallin. He is huge now and he looked exactly like Hayden.. such a baller! I don´t have anything else to say that I can think of.. just know that I pray for you guys every single day and I love you guys so much! I´m going to send some pictures.. honestly I couldn´t remember what day exactly Carter´s birthday was.. I was planning on asking today but I found out from your letters so that is why the picture is different than the rest :) thanks for everything and I love you guys! I leave you with Tweety´s Seeds of Wisdom: Wet rocks are so deceiving.. never trust a rock. Oh that looks dry.. I´ll step on that one to get across the water.. NOPE! So depressing.. Hasta proxima semana familia! Les amo mucho.. gracias por todo!

Unexpected Visit to the Hospital

Hello all! Thank you all for your letters.. I love coming to the computer place and opening my email and seeing all your letters! You guys are the best.. anyways as you may have noticed.. I had to go to the hospital again! Yayyyyy.. just when I thought my luck couldn´t get any worse! Anyways I believe it was Thursday night.. my companion and I were riding our bikes on a busy street going in between 15-20 miles an hour or so to kind of keep up with the traffic. All of a sudden.. nobody knows how.. but my front wheel and fork thing that connects my handlebars to the wheel just snapped off and disconnected. I went into the Superman position with my hands still on the handlebars. Hopefully you guys can understand what I´m saying happened.. my front wheel with handlebars disconnected from the other part of the bike. I landed straight on my stomach and wrist.. and immediately rolled over to my back and skid a couple feet. A bunch of people were walking nearby and came  to check if I was okay. Long story short my wrist is really jacked up. I had a hard time sleeping because it hurt so bad, and when I woke up the next morning, it was purple, cold, and I could barely feel it. I had to go to the hospital to get an x-ray. We waited about 3 hours because I don´t have a card from Chile and they were confused with what to do with my Utah Driver´s License. It was super ghetto... haha it´s the hospital where all the poor people go because they don´t have money. It´s like 4 bucks to get help in an emergency situation. Some lady fainted right in front of me, a guy came in with all his fingers cut off bleeding everywhere because of a chainsaw accident, and lots of other fun stuff like that! Jon if you remember that tsunami movie with Obi-Wan Kenobi.. the hospital looked like that.. well not that nice but with people lying on beds in the hallway. Anyways the doctor told me it´s not broken but it could be fractured and he couldn´t tell. I´m wearing this elastic brace and have to take medicine.. I took a picture of it soon after it happened so I´ll see if I can send that. Elder Collins has to tie my ties and button up my shirts in the morning because I am unable to.. haha it´s like I´m 2 again! When I try and make a cup upwards with my hand it pops and cracks and is pretty disgusting. But I am here in Linares so there´s not a whole lot I can do about it but deal with it.  I´ve been a little down because of it but I had a thought run through my head the other day. I thought to myself that you guys are paying $400 dollars a month, and I know you guys don´t want to pay that much money for me to be miserable, so I am trying as best as I can to still stay positive. Anyways onto this week! Tuesday I had a mini-cambio with Elder Barrios (new elder in my house) and it was a really long day. It was non-stop raining and nobody was home or would let us in! It started lightning, thundering, and hailing so we went into a little store and waited it out. The streets were flooded after that.. I was mad I didn´t have my camera but it´s probably good because my backpack was soaking wet and it might have ruined it. When we would ride our bikes, everytime we pedaled our feet would go completely under freezing cold water.. haha that day was an adventure! The other day we had Family Night with a less active family and with Evelyn & Martin. After the Catholic lady talked to Evelyn, she told us that she only wanted to visit us for once a week. It´s kind of crappy because I can kind of tell the Catholic lady affected her a little bit. Satan is doing everything he can to stop this work from progressing.. what´s up with that? Anyways we took some picures so I´ll try and send some! The less active mom´s name is Bernadita and she´s way cool. She loves the missionaries.. she is baptized.. but her husband isn´t. They aren´t married either but she has been coming to church. She told us she stopped coming to church for awhile because she had no friends there.. which is why she is trying so hard to help us to convert Evelyn.. which is awesome. We also have a less active mother and her family and we are working with her 13 year old son. His name is Jorge, and the and the mother told us they were planning on coming to church with us, but they never showed up. It´s super frustrating working so hard with them during the week and they don´t show up to church.

During our priesthood meeting at church, a weird guy wearing a beanie and a beard with jeans walks in and sits down. He starts speaking in English saying he doesn´t want to be bothered. Then he gets up in front of everybody and is only speaking English. He said something about the ¨North Americans¨(Elder Collins and me) and started going off about how Chileans are such horrible people and that he was Christ, and that all his siblings had been Christ as well. All the people just looked at me and Elder Collins saying.. what is he saying? Haha finally he sat down but kept blurting stupid stuff our during the lesson. He demanded he say the closing prayer, and it was super weird. He said half of it in English.. the half of it in Spanish. His pronunciation in English was surprisingly good but his grammar wasn´t the greatest. I could still get the gist of what he was saying. He started talking about Catholics and Evangelists and other religions in his prayer. After, he gave a paper to Elder Collins but the guy who was teaching took it and threw it away. I guess Collins knows the guy, and he´s asked him for help in getting in contact with people who live in Florida. I guess he lived in America for a short amount of time but I´m not sure. Anyways it was pretty weird and I was kind of scared because I thought he was going to pull out a gun or something when he first walked in haha. I forgot to tell you guys that 2 weeks ago I had to give a talk a 10 minute talk in sacrament meeting on the Restoration and it went pretty well. It´s hard because their pulpet is sooooo small and it doesn´t raise up, so I have to lean way down to talk hahaha. I also forgot to tell you guys that the Pulsiphers came to our ward to speak last week! I got a chance to talk to Sister Pulsipher for quite a while and I asked her about her blog! She was excited to hear that you like to read it mom.. she even took a picture of me and my companion and said she´s going to put it on there because she knows you would like it! I don´t know if she really will put it on there.. but just letting you know. She´s a really nice lady! I can´t think of a whole lot more to report.. we are going to continue to work with Evelyn, Martin, and Jorge and see what we can do! I am going to try and send you some pictures so hopefully those work! Thanks everyone who wrote me.. I really appreciate it! You guys are the best and I love you so much! Thanks Brian for sending those pictures.. and mom I loved the picture of Bella! I´m definitely printing that one out and it´s going in my photo album along with the pictures Brian sent me. That´s sad to hear about Mac.. tell the Howell´s I love them and thanks for everything! I miss everyone so much but I know I´m where the Lord wants me.. did you guys tell Grandpa thanks for everything and that I love him? I feel bad because I didn´t get to say bye to him before I left:( Thanks for all your prayers I know they´ve definitely helped me! Anyways I´m gonna go so I have some time to send you guys some picures!  Again thanks for all the letters and everything I love you guys so much! I leave you with Tweety´s Seeds of Wisdom: Never buy Great Value Oreos.. some Great Value items you can get away with.. but one thing that I have learned for sure.. STAY AWAY FROM THE ¨OREOS¨.