Stand by the Savior

First off I love you, more than you all even know, seriously. I feel your love, and I break free of doubtful thoughts. Your love, just as my setting apart blessing said, is getting me through.  My family is my everything. I am so sorry I took for granted your love.

 Dad and Bro Gabbitas giving blessings to those kids and Bryce, is such a blessing to me, and so important.  Dad and Bro. Gabbitas are using the power of God as it has been given. Christ would have done the same if he were here.  Thank you for being worthy. School starting...woah, Bryce is getting old! And football season is the best part of it! What a great opportunity to spread the gospel through example, to Bryce I say be humble and put the Lord first and he will renew your strength beyond what you can think!  I promise, without the Lord I promise you i would not have done any good on the team.  Its more important to win in your heart, and in the eyes of your teammates than on the scoreboard!! But I know you'll have success! I love you bro! You have a letter coming! Im trying to send a package soon! DRIVING!?!? thats not right!! I would love to be driving out here haha, we are FULL bike, but we get rides a lot its awesome!   Please give me Grandma Rose's email or address or something, I see now the love that my grandparents have for me and how I didn't show it enough in return:/ I love you grandma and Grandpa Nelson and Grandma Rose. 

Thank you for hastening the work! I know you all are tying to magnify your callings and be dependable members of our ward! You all can to help make our ward a zion-like ward and Bryce believe it or not is the only one with keys in the house, Dad doesn't have keys, Michael doesn't, Bryce does, he is the President of all the kids 14-15 in our ward boundaries, through prayer and thought he can change lives and magnify his priesthood, save lives and be a ministering angel to them with the assistance of the angels of above! Bryce I invite you to do this!

I often become discouraged when I feel that same pressure on me, but whom the Lord calls he qualifies. We will never ever, ever be left alone. Be confident in your calling and know that we can do all things the lord asks! We are not meant for small things! Know that we have a calling from beyond the veil know that we are not suppose to standby living life making no difference. The lord has allowed us to grow up in the church so that we can serve the world standing as a light for others, and showing others the light of our own testimony!

This week I have felt the love of the Savior in me. No matter what comes up, the savior felt it. He was alone standing for what he knew was true, he suffered he set the example and he recieved nothing. Out of simple love he rescued us all. So this week, as we taught our investigator Kim, about the book of mormon, and she said i know its true, because it talks about the book of mormon, and another, Annette, said that no matter what she goes through, jobless, friendless, caught in the addiction of ciggarettes, and explaining her triumph over abuse, tell us that she will never give up on the Lord because she knows that he is there for her. If he can bear all of us in his hands and his feet, and if Kim can know its true simply because of Christ, and Annette can preservere with faith in Christ when the entire world is on top of her, and they progress towards baptism, then we can do our part. We can stand by the savior now and forever, we can stand and proclaim the gospel and invite someone to church or magnify our priesthood, read the book that joseph died for, we can pray with our families and the Lord will work miracles with us! I love my savior, and I know i am not doing nearly enough for him, but I love him. And will continue to try! I invite all of you to do something this week out of sincere love for the savior! Whether to help your own soul or the souls of others! This is all he aks of us! I love you all so much!

Family, I love you and I know you are doing good things, Michael and Megan, you say you are reading and learning with each other thats amazing, keep going, I want to have a marriage like that. Mom, I know you're reading and working hard in your calling. Dad, i know as well. Bryce, I know you're trying to balance it all, you're doing it all, and I am with you, so lets all invite and bring others closer to christ! I hope I don't sound preachy or annoying, I just really had a great moment this week that made me really appreciate the Savior, and feel so much love for him! I can't wait to hear from you again. I miss you.

Be not afraid; only Believe!

Elder Nelson

D & C 112:10

Just an FYI..... Elder Nelson writes 2 emails home each week.  One letter he writes strictly to our family and the other he writes is like the following telling us what he has learned this week.  I am going to try and combine the two when I figure out how to do that.  At least the interesting facts that he shares in his personal email.  Anyway, enjoy!

This week was so humbling. In all senses of the word. All week we struggled to really find people to teach, and we just were trying to stay positive and trying to do all we were supposed to, to hasten the work, but could not quite figure out how to do it. We are trying to be instruments in the hands of the Lord and just be led by him. And did not see how we really were suppose to do that. We are stuck in this transition time of the old and new ways of missionary work. So we just prayed, and prayed, and tried. Saturday night hit and we were just trying to stay positive and being funny, and getting a little light minded; just then we recieved a text to speak in sacrament meeting, on any topic of our choice. This was a wake up call and a burden at first, but once we humbled ourselves, we realized what a blessing this was. We both prepared and the spirit spoke through us. As we looked over the congregation we saw that we had present 7 investigators, 5 less actives and 2 recent converts. One of the ladies in our ward who has recently been baptized, divorced, and struggling to find a job, brought her friend to church. She spoke with us after church and said she wanted a book of mormon and a gospel principles book and loved her time here at church. How humbling this experience was, the Lord hastened his work and we just needed to humble our hearts. We stand back and look what the Lord does. So I invite everyone to Humble your hearts and watch as the Lord will take your hand if we are just willing to move our feet. I know this work is His and I know it is true. I Love all of you.

Be not afraid; Only Believe

Elder Nelson

D&C 133:37

So, I don't have much time today but, I just wanted to explain something very important! 

The WORK IS HASTENING!

Missionary work is taking a huge change, and change that in the words of Robert D. Hales is the equivalent to the restoration of the gospel! Missionary work is now completely through the members! If you have not been to lds.org and looked at hastening the work I invite you to do so! It explains how the finding is now through the members and together with the help of the missionaries we will bring the gospel to every nation kindred tongue and people! We cannot tract anymore because there shouldn't be any time to do so! We need to spend every moment teaching the friends and family of those who are already members of this great church. So we are told by Thomas S. Monson to open our mouths! That's all. If you invite 100 people this week then you have succeeded, if you have invited one person this week. Then you have succeeded in this work. But you MUST open your mouth! AND SHARE IT! We have the truth, the only way back to the loving arms of our Father. We are selfish if we are coasting and just getting by until we can finally enter the gates. That is LUKE warm and He will spew us out. We must be either hot or cold, in or out, and if we are in, then we must OPEN OUR MOUTHS! As missionaries we are trying to qualify for the next level of tools to share and speed this up, but for now we must have people to teach. Your friends, your family, your coworkers. If you are not sure how to do it, ask the missionaries! If you're sure what to say ASK THE MISSIONARIES. If Joseph Smith being called of God to restore the everlasting Gospel and recieve the power and Authority which which save all of us was important enough to listen to and follow, then WE MUST open our mouths!  I know and have a firm testimony that our savior lives and he is ever present in our day to day lives. Through the power of the Holy Ghost we will know its true, and if we truely truely endure to the end we will see our Father and our savior. I know these things are true, and I know this call is immediate and vital! I love all of you so much! And cannot wait to share the miracles that come with this! We have a family that recently called us in desperate need of help, and they know we can help them in all aspects of her life and her grandchildren, she has committed to coming and is believing all we tell her! She is progressing and said she will prepare herself for her first step of faith in baptism on the 31st! So Pray for Roxanne! the miracles have already begun!

Elder Nelson!

Be not afraid; Only believe

We can't do it without him!

Ah so this week was all about prayer and faith! The Lord will help you become all you need to be. But I just know I can't do it without him! We taught sharing time in primary this past sunday and oh man those kids are crazy but man I learned so much. The gospel is simple and is not based on logic, and dissection of scripture, it's about faith on the simple things and then asking our father if its true! That's all it is. When we want something or need something its because we FEEL imcomplete without it, or we FEEL sad so we want to feel happy, or feel hungry and want to be full. When we feel hungry we don't go studying about why our body responds the way it does when we're lacking food? So why would God make the way to know things are true by going out and dissecting it? well he didn't he just wants us to go find the right food, eat it and then he will answer us by giving that FEELING! our heart is where we will know truth, our brains will help us choose, but our heart is where we can KNOW! As I felt things in myself lacking, and the needs of our investigators or other missionaries lacking, prayer was the answer! Elder Langi and I have been praying for so many things, as a missionary you truly realize how much we really lack. But the Lord will answer in his MARVELOUS WAY! It was a great week and the Lord has answered my prayer. As our investigators are realizie how their prayers are being answered, I know they will see the change! We have a family here, a mother and a daughter, the daughter is being prepared to be baptized and the mother is being reactivated. They pray so much now, and how they have been saved from trials. And in the midst of that, she has been an answer to our prayers. So pray and listen to how you FEEL!

 Just a cool side note, about 40 missionaries went to the Tampa Bay Rays game vs. the Giants and we sang the nat'l anthem! It, was. the. coolest.thing.ever. When I send my SD card home you can see some videos and stuff. I forgot on the actual performance tho, so that sucks. but ya it was so cool, the entire mission came to the actual game and it was so awesome to see my old district from the mtc as well as new missionaries! It was awesome to hear the announcer say, "missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints! and the section where all the missionaries were just LOST THEIR MIND! We felt so small down there, but that was again, another answer to my prayer saying. NO, you are never alone, just these 200 missionaries is a small portion of what you represent.

 We are never alone, He is always with us, and He is the head of this work, and this entire world. How grateful I am to be right with my father, as I live in HIS world. I know these things are true, God loves each of his children and wants to communicate with us. I know it. I love all of you! The church is true in TAMPA! Be Not Afraid; Only Believe. Elder Nelson