Utah got back there, got a paw on it, and they will win the game!!!!! GO UTES!‏

Hello my wonderful family and friends.. how´s it going? Thanks for all your letters and everything! I am alright here in Yungay. It is sooooooo ridiculously cold in my wooden hut and I am soooooo done with the winter! Thanks Heather for the video of Carter.. I watched it but there´s no headphones here.. so I´m working on getting it onto my digital camera! Also the drawing that Carter did for me... I loved it! Haha freak he looks huge. Anyways we are still working with the nieces of the member.. Geraldine, Karen, and their friend Paola. The members got sick so they couldn´t bring them to church yesterday which kind of sucked but I´m sure they´ll come next week! Geraldine has a date for baptism the 7th, and Paola the 14th. Karen also is for the 7th, but she has to talk with her parents first. We´ll see what happens. Everything else has been pretty slow but we´ll see if things will pick up here soon! It has been so cold in the mornings and at night it is ridiculous. I demanded to get our caliphone fixed so I could shower with hot water, but I have to bring the gas inside every night. I went to shower one morning, and the gas was completely frozen. I even brought it in our house that night. Also, I went to use my neosporin, and it was block solid. I also went to grab my juice out of the fridge, but it was frozen. Like seriously? That´s how cold it is. I can´t even begin to describe it.. but I´m warm when I sleep with my blankets and my electric blanket thingy! The other day I woke up just absolutely devastated. I had a dream where I was on the 3rd row for a concert with Jeremy. We were there at the Angels and Airwaves concert and we were waiting for my boy Tom to get on stage. We were so excited and then I woke up.. haha boooooo. I wasn´t mad that I woke up then, but that I really wasn´t able to go to a concert with Jeremy. Haha it´s funny to think about now but when you wake up from a dream it´s all different and you´re still half stuck in the dream. It´s all good because we´re still gonna hit up an AVA concert right Jeremy? Okay good. Also, you guys might think it´s funny or I´m just a baby.. but we´ve found 3 ¨Chilean Recluse¨ spiders in our hut and I´m freaking out. Basically from what I´ve heard from the members is that since the medical care is so bad here, a bite can cause death. Now you may think I´m overreacting, but honestly I´m so paranoid I´m having troubles sleeping at night. It freaking sucks.. you know my phobia with spiders and now with spiders like that in our house and the worse medical care.. ugh. I also have this giant purple/white bump on my waist that I have no idea what it is.. looks like something bit me. Anyways it sounds like everything is doing well at home! I can´t believe Jeremy is all moved out and everything.. crazy! Justin married, Jeremy moved out, Jon´s new car, the kids being all huge and everything. Freak.. so much changes while you´re on your mission. There was this kid the other day that I asked how old he was and he said he was 8. Haha it made me sick to my stomach thinking how big Hayden is going to be when he gets back. By the way, hold off on my package while I think of anything else I might need. I have thought of that water bottle like Jon, more toothbrush heads (urgently), my 8gb flashdrive (Not sure where it is), and I´m not so sure on the jump jump anymore. Also if you can look for scripture cases and let me know what types you can find that would be awesome. The measurements are: B.O.M. 5 7/8 inches wide (across) and 8 1/2 inches long. (top to bottom) Also it is 1 inch thick. My bible is the exact same but 1 1/2 inches thick. Also I might want the Labor of Love DVD that we have, and also the temple celebration. I´m thinking about buying a mini-dvd player that I can download videos to my USB to show investigators and members. Also sounds like everyone is gearing up for another football season. I know I probably shouldn´t be thinking about it, but freak I´m gonna miss going to all the games. It´s made me sick to my stomach thinking about everyone going to the games but me.. I haven´t missed a home game I don´t think since we started buying season tickets. Anyways good luck to my Utes and let´s get some revenge on those Aggies... Who am I, sir? A Utah man am I A Utah man, sir, and will be till I die............ so fill your lungs and sing it out and shout it to the sky, we´ll fight for dear old Crimson, for a Utah Man am I........ GO UTES!!!!!!! I want every single little detail on every single little thing on the games if possible :) Yes I know I know I shouldn´t be thinking about it but I´m sorry I just can´t help it. I love my UTES!!!! Also thanks for all the individual letters.. (Jeremy, Jon, Trevor, Heather, and Mom.) Brian and Dad are also very good at writing me.. but what´s up with Robyn? I´m calling her out right now. Just kidding Robyn I love you! I would like to write you all back individually so I think I might try next week if I can.. I don´t have a whole lot of time left today because I´ve been working on converting that video of Carter so I can watch it on my camera.. Brian if you could also send some videos of the kids that would be cool! If not it´s all good. Anyways thanks for all you do and I´m sorry this letter wasn´t that exciting. I´ll be honest Yungay isn´t that happening of a place! Wish me luck on avoiding the deadly spiders and with our 3 investigators so they can come to church and be baptized! I love you all..... and GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO UTESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!

Ceiling lamps and orange juice

Trenton's new adopted dog he named "Sophie"

 Some investigators Trenton grew to love in Linares

Hello everyone! How is everyone doing? Here in Yungay... well mom like you might of thought.. is a GHOSTTOWN. Hahahaha it is so small and basically all country. Basically before I got here, everyone told me that it would be a miracle if I had success here. I´ve always been the type to do all that I can to prove someone wrong. I´m glad I was told that because it makes me want to work all that much harder here in Yungay to show that it´s not the area you´re in, the time of year, but the attitude of the missionary. The very few members want a chapel here in Yungay more than anything. The church is in a small house with not much room. We need to get to 80 members here in Yungay, and they can have their chapel. It´s awesome because I see how bad they want it and almost feel bad they go to church in a house, so that also makes me want to work that much harder. By the way.. I live in an all wooden ¨house¨ (More like a hut) . Hahaha it is SOOOOOOOOOOO cold in the mornings it is unreal. Okay it´s not very funny but whatever. Also, the caliphone is broken so I have to boil hot water in the morning to shower. (Props to you Jonathan Neilson.) We went to church yesterday and I think besides the missionaries there were in between 25-30 people there. (The other 2 missionaries here in Yungay are sisters). Not too long ago, the missionaries did everything, but now there´s a branch president. The members have a hard time supporting him I´m not sure why. Maybe because all of his family are less actives.  Living in a house of 2 couldn´t be more boring but it´s whatever. Elder M and Elder B knew that I would be bored so they called me the other night just to talk. Haha Elder M is way funny. He was in Yungay before me about 6 months ago. He´s now training an elder that went to Olympus that knows Brett Crump and Jake and all them .Anyways my companion hasn´t been a member for very long. This is his 4th cambio here in Yungay.. his other companion was Elder W, a grandson of one of the 70. He was only here for 1 transfer so that´s kind of weird. More than likely I will be getting a new companion here in 5 weeks. One of my zone leaders is Elder P, who went to Lone Peak. When I went to Concepcion for the new missionary conference, I was his companion for a day. I don´t know if you remember that I mentioned that to you but he´s pretty cool. We have to travel an hour and a half on bus in order to go to our meetings every Tuesday.. we are literally in the middle of absolutely nowhere in Yungay. Also our hut is basicaly in the woods. We have to walk a little ways from the road and it´s in front of a river with trees and all sorts of stuff around the hut. We didn´t have anyone that we had been teaching in church yesterday, but 2 people showed up and we talked to them. They are the nieces of a member, and we went and visited them last night. They live in an area about 20 minutes away on bus but there weren´t any buses. The district leader made us travel there last night just to have them accept dates to be baptized. We tried to hitchhike for about 30 minutes and we were like okay this is the last car we´re going to try and if not we´ll just work by our house. Of course the car stopped us and gave us a ride! We found one of the girls (cousins) and she accepted a baptism date. It´s for September 14th, but we´re going to change it to the 7th. We actually found these 2 girls later on in the area book and Elder M had actually taught them a few times.Then on our way back, someone told us the bus wasn´t going to be there until 10:30 pm. We tried to hitchhike some more but found a taxi to Yungay so we took that. We are going to head back there tonight to teach the other cousin. Today there are buses to and from there so that should be a lot better haha. There´s a dog here in Yungay that I´m going to try and send a picture of that follows us EVERYWHERE we go. When we go into a house to teach, it waits outside for us. It somehow found it´s way to our house 2 nights ago, so I felt like I had to make a nice bed outside for her because it´s so cold. By the way, I named her Sophie.  The other day we went and did service for a member. She had a ton of garbage outside her house and we had to clean it all up. It was unreal.. basically from what I´ve figured out the past 5 years she has thrown every little garbage and old toy outside in a pile. We got there, and she told us that we had to go buy bags to put all the garbage in. Like are you being serious right now? We had enough money to buy 4 bags so we filled those. We´re nowhere close to finished but I think some more members are going to help us another day. There we dead rats everywhere too. I know part of the reason I am in South America is to remind me of how good we have it in the United States. Freak I´m so glad to be an American. Anyways there´s not a whole lot more to tell you guys.. Yungay is a ghost town but it´s all good. Congratulations to Justin and Laurie on the wedding.. I´m happy for them. I´m a little disappointed there wasn´t a cutout of me there but then again it probably wouldn´t have fit in the building if it was lifesize. People especially here in Yungay look at me like I´m a disgusting mutated elephant pig with blonde hair. I´m still waiting on the picture that Laurie has of me and DJ Teaskie at EFY. Me and the DJ were the life of EFY each year we went and you better believe that. Also congratz to my boy Teaskie for completing a year in the mission on the 22nd. That´s dope. I love and miss that kid so much but sounds like he´s doing work in Cali. I´m going to try and send some pictures of my favorite families I met in Linares.. so hopefully this computer will send a picture even though it´s older than an N64. Sorry for being random I´m in a weird mood right now. Anyways Brielle is so cute and I want to hold her more than anything. Thanks for all you do and I´ll talk to you all next week!

We Found Dove in a Soapless Place

Me voy a Yungay! Que fome.. I will be leaving Linares and heading to Yungay. I´m a little sad because I love all the people I´ve met here but I need to trust that the Lord needs me in Yungay. My new companion will be Elder C! I´ve heard quite a bit about him.  I´m definitely nervous but we´ll see what happens. Elder B in my house also is leaving to go to Chillan. We´re really good friends and get along well so I´ll miss that kid. We will be companions later on.. mark my words! I´m also a little nervous for Solange, our investigator we have right now. I can´t remember what I´ve told you guys, but she felt like my companion and I were her missionaries, so she wanted us to teach her instead of the other Elders. The night after she went to put our number in her phone, it was already there with our names there. She got really scared and knew for a fact that she had never done anything with her phone with the missonaries. Her sister and the sister´s husbands are members, and they told us that was the moment when everything about her started to change. She had a lot of questions but she is pretty much a sure thing for baptism up to this point on the 31st. We told her there was a chance we could be leaving.. and she was super upset. She told us that we are her missionaries and she had received an answer from God that that was true. I haven´t told her yet that I´m leaving, but if she is really commited to changing her life and the Gospel, it shouldn´t matter. I´ll let you guys know and my companion told me that he´s going to send a picture of her baptism to me. That´s what sucks about getting transferred but that´s the way it is. I also don´t want to say goodbye to Eduardo and his family. They are such an awesome family and Eduardo is going to mad that I won´t be starting up an English class haha. You finally get used to an area, the people there, and then bam you´re gone.. booo.  I have all my bags packed up and ready to go in the morning sometime so wish me luck in Yungay. My companion told me 2 weeks ago the worst place you can go in the mission is Yungay. I´ve also heard that from other people as well. Guess where I´m going? Hahahaha oh my gosh like for reals. Mom this computer is really slow so I don´t know if I´ll be able to send the video of our talent show. I brought treats to give out to all the kids that night and they loved it!  I also don´t want to say goodbye to a different family. Nicol and Roberto and their 2 kids that are 6 and 2. The 2 year old loves when we visit them and he always wants to play games with me when we get there. I will take some pictures tonight as I say goodbye to everybody and see if I can send them next week. I honestly can´t think of a whole lot more to update you guys on.. the only investigator that was progressing is Solange and I already gave an update on her. I´ve emailed Dustin but haven´t gotten anything back which is kind of frustrating because I want to know how he´s doing. Sounds like basically everyone is out on their missions.. that´s awesome. I can´t believe Dallin has been taking a few steps.. that´s so crazy! I honestly miss my nephews so freaking much.. I don´t think I can even begin to describe it. It´s so hard to think how fast their growing up and I can´t be there. Thanks Bri for the picture! I love getting pictures even though it makes me a little sad haha. I am trying to think of other stuff I can tell you guys so this letter isn´t so short but freak this week wasn´t that exciting. It´s still really cold but September is almost here and it should get warmer. I´m really nervous for Yungay because I hear it´s extremely tough there and a lot of country.  I try to laugh to make myself feel better just so you know.. but I feel bad this letter kinda sucks. Next week I will have more to update you guys on and everything so stay tuned! Thanks for everything you guys do and stay safe!!! I love you all and I´ll talk to you all next week!

p.s.  Good luck to Justin tomorrow... I liked their wedding announcements! Mom I would like that picture that Laurie has of us at EFY because I honestly don´t remember it.. haha

p.s.s. I haven´t heard anything about the mail strike.. sorry!

                                                NINNON OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yellow Diamonds in the Sky

   Hello my family! First off I would like to congratulate Trevor and Heather for their new baby Brielle! She is so freaking cute oh my gosh.. I´m a little sad and down that I can´t see my own niece but thanks for the pictures. I was so surprised to see how much hair she has and how dark it is! 4 blonde nephews and then she comes out with that hair.. for real? Freak I want to hold her so bad... boooo. Anyways I´m glad all is well with her and Heather and I already love my niece so much! I first read Jose´s email that I got and read about how Jon bought a new car. Honestly I thought it was a joke at first until I read everyone´s elses emails and saw the pictures. It´s soooooo sick! Good choice Jon.. I love the Legacy´s. Dual exhaust pipes too... freak I want to drive it and I want to drive it now! Haha but really that´s sick and thanks for the pictures. Yeah for real tho Jon I have stretch marks around my hips and freak I´m just so ugly. Yeah Mom I´m pretty sure it´s the bread here.. I eat a ton of bread here because the people always insist that we have ¨once¨ while we´re there. But it´s all good because I definitely needed the weight! Anyways this week was a normal week. There is a new convert in our ward that is now the assistant ward mission leader. He´s a way cool guy and has a super strong testimony now. His wife has a sister that isn´t a member and the other elders started teaching her. We went and visited them like 2 weeks ago and again last night and the sister named S told us that she now wants us to teach her because she feels uncomfortable around the other elders. She called us today and wants us to go eat lunch with her after we´re finished here so we´ll see if she progresses. She seems to have some psychological problems and doesn´t like to talk a whole lot but we´ll see what happens. Not a whole lot to report this week.. I´m hoping either I leave Linares or my companion does..  The other day we were in a lesson with this lady. She had a dog that wouldn´t leave us alone so while we were teaching I was just calmly petting it with one hand. The dog went to him and he said ¨No!¨ and hit it in the face. The lady looked at me like seriously who does that? After the lesson he got soooooo mad that I was petting the dog and freaked out at me.    A part of me would like to leave because Linares is where I started here in Chile and didn´t have the best start off to my mission.. a part of me would like to stay because I get along really well with the members. On Friday we had a talent show and us elders had to perform a skit or something of that sort. We didn´t have a ton of time to plan it, but we ended up doing this little dance sort of thing to Enya.. ¨Only Time¨. It was so random but the members loved it. You know me.. I go all out with things like that. They loved my random dance moves and my random head jerks towards the crowd. I have a video of it and I didn´t hear the end of it at church yesterday. It was really random but it ended up turning out pretty well. We had to get a kid from the ward to help us because my companion refused to participate. Anyways E looks like he won´t progress in time for me to baptize him because he´s struggling with coffee and having a testimony of the Book of Mormon. It´s all good because it´s more important that the people are sure they want to be baptized and have a strong testimony before so that they can remain active in the church after the missionaries leave. Freak I´m trying to think of what else happened this week.. this week was not very exciting to be honest with you guys. We traveled 45 minutes to Parral to meet up with the other zone and play some games inside because the court outside was all wet. It was pretty fun because I get along really well with the gringos in that zone. Freak I just want a gringo companion this next change.. that´s all I want! Anyways have you guys seen any of Dustin´s letters yet? If by chance you see them on Facebook or something like that could you forward them to me? That would be awesome as I´ve been hoping that he is doing well there in Guatemala. It is still cold here in Linares but I think it will start warming up here. They all use these fireplace things to warm their houses and the smoke is everywhere! It´s pretty much foggy ALL THE TIME and you can´t see very far in front of you. I think that´s part of why it´s so cold.. I have but a few times seen the sun here during the winter. I heard around August 20th or so is when it starts to warm up and I´m looking forward to that. The bitter cold just makes things so much harder.. a new companion and the warmer weather sure would be nice and I´m looking forward to that! I feel bad there wasn´t a whole lot to report this week but hopefully next week there will be more. I´ll let you guys know about changes next week.. cross your fingers! Sounds like Real Salt Lake is doing well and Jeremy and Jon enjoy going to the games. Freaking Utah Football.. I´m definitely going to miss going to the games. Freak. But hopefully they can pick things up this year and figure it out in the Pac-12 as they have a very tough schedule ahead. Less than a month away.. that´s crazy. Good luck to Justin this month with getting married! Congratulations again to him! Where are they going on their honeymoon? I don´t know why I want to know that haha I´m just curious. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Bella! I freaking love and miss her but am so grateful she is home with you guys getting taken care of. Tell her I love her! I was going to send some more pictures this week but I forgot to bring my cable.. I thought we were going to go back to the house after we went to Parral but we came straight here to email. Anyways I´m thankful for all of you and all you guys do for me.. you guys are awesome! Congratulations again to Trevor & Heather with Brielle.. she´s so cute and I love her even though I can´t see her! I leave you with Tweety Bird´s Seeds of Wisdom: If you see a man walking down the street in the rain looking suspicious and looking at you weird... Be cautious. He might scream and yell at you that he wants your ¨nice, rich jacket¨ and get mad when you won´t give it to him. Until next week...
                                                     

                                                            NEILSON OUT!!!!!!

Mountain Dew in the Morning...

First off I want to say that I was disappointed when I went onto my blog for a quick moment and saw that you were changing my titles to my letters.. hahaha but it´s all good! Anyways how is my family back in good old Utah doing? Sounds like Heather had a false alarm and that you guys are still waiting the arrival of my niece.. but I´m sure by next week she´ll be here! Be sure to take plenty of pictures so I can print them off and but them in my album book! This week has been decent! Luisa didn´t end up coming to church again and now my companion wants to stop seeing her. She knows Joseph Smith is a prophet and believes the Book of Mormon to be true. She knows the church is true and everything but I don´t know why she hasn´t come to church. She tells us she is going to for sure come, but we go in the morning to pick her up but she never answers the door. We´ll see what happens. Jose and Yazna, the Grandpa and granddaughter, the same thing with all our other investigators so I don´t really need to go too much into that. We did have our interviews with the President this past week which went pretty well. I asked how he was doing and he told me ¨alright.¨ I was like why just alright? He told me it was because he had no idea what he was doing yet. Haha it was funny but he´s still super nervous.. but who wouldn´t be? Sister A came into the church with a heater that she carries everywhere. I started talking to her and asked her how she liked Chile. She told me that she just wishes she would have some tiny idea of what was going on because she doesn´t understand ANY Spanish. Also she told me that she hasn´t been warm since she´s gotten here. Haha I didn´t say it but I thought yup welcome to Chile in the winter. It´s soooooo cold but I´ve heard August in warmer than July so we´ll see. So yes we have changes on the 12th, and before I thought I would leave, but I´m not so sure now. The members despise my companion, and my companion even told the President that. He can tell they don´t like him.. and we honestly have the hardest time working with the members. In my interview, I brought up that we had struggles with that because he asked what our biggest difficulty was. Because of that, my companion and I both feel like he might be tranferred. We don´t know for sure yet but we´ll see what happens! We´ve been walking everywhere now because my companions back tire broke and he refuses to fix it. Anyways the other day we went over to do service for the Castillo family. They are the ones with the daughter that has cancer that lives in Argentina. Guess what? They have 16 pets in their tiny house. 10 cats and 6 dogs! They´re all from off the street so I guess that´s pretty cool but wow it´s pretty gross in their house. Anyways there´s nothing more to this story besides the fact that I felt like I had to tell you guys they had 16 pets. Cool story Trenton. Also 2 days ago I saw the saddest thing ever. I went outside our house and saw a dog walking around. I looked a little closer, and it´s 2 back legs were completely dead. It´s a little hard to explain, but if you guys feel so inclined go onto Youtube and type in ¨Family Guy Joe ran over by a tank¨ A half empty toothpaste.. is the best way to explain it like Peter Grifin does. Totally fine from the head halfway down his body, but everything else was completely dead. The 2 legs were straight behind the dog, with the bones visible and everything. We started walking away, and the dog started following us. The dog tried to bark, but it couldn´t. As we walked away, it started whimpering, I honestly felt sooooo bad. I asked if there was a service that would come pick it up and put it down or get it some help, but nope it doesn´t exist in Linares. We called the Castillos and they told us when we got back from going where we were going and if the dog was still there, to call them. We got back and the dog was gone and I have no idea what happened to it. Sooo sad. I´ve seen plenty of dead dogs and half of dogs that had been hit by the freight train.. ugh. I know you guys probably don´t want to hear that but it´s just stuff I see here in Linares! Anyways today was a really good P-Day. We went with that family up to the mountains and had a barbecue and stuff. On the way we stopped by the dam that I believe I sent a picture of already but we ended up going a lot further by a river and stuff. I took some pictures so I´ll try to send them. Also on the way back, we stopped by Eduardo´s dad´s house. (Eduardo is the guy that wants me to baptize him, but he won´t be ready by the 10th. The other missionaries were fine with it) There he has 2 horses and he let me ride it around. I had never done it so it was pretty fun! I  have some pictures of that too so if this computer is halfway decent I´ll send those. Also something I realized this past week. I´ve told you guys that I eat and I eat and I´m never full. Also when I lay down and breathe in I have horrible stomach pain near my appendix. But that´s nothing new since I got here to Chile but I had noticed I´m gaining weight. I left my mission at 155... I weighed myself the other day. 180 pounds. I can no longer make fat jokes with Jon.. it´s a sad day :( Anyways if you guys see Dustin´s letters home on Facebook could you maybe send it to me Mom? That would be awesome.. I´m hoping he´s doing well and enjoying the MTC in Guatemala. Sounds like Parker leaves tomorrow and Russ will be enjoying his Jack Daniels.. haha I laughed when I read that. I was wondering about Gabe Myers the other day.. he´s my really good friend I met in tech center. That´s cool he´s heading to Ecuador. Sounds like all my friends have their mission calls, or have already left. Dad thanks for the letter and the sports updates, I love them so keep them coming. And yes the headaches are still there, this past week was actually bad but I guess I´m just used to it. Who´s all planning on going to Mt. Rushmore? I´m jealous.. that´ll be cool. Mom, I´m sure it´s fine if you accept the friend request. I told them that you handle my facebook now and that´s what a lot of missionaries do. But there´s not a whole lot more to report and I´m going to try and send some pictures.. but thanks for everything and I love you all!