2016/12/19 Update and Pictures

Here is the latest from the Lukester. Note that I have never seen Luke smile such a huge and authentic smile!

hola pops, thanks for the info about skyping, and the blog.

my companions and i are busy trying to get both areas settled, because we now have more investigators. but we are getting there, we are getting more in the hang of it.

i havent eaten many strange things yet. the weirdest so far is probably when a member (the Gay family...tee hee:) took us out for tacos, and you order small tortillas and a couple different plates of meats, and then you can go and get other things like lettuce, salsa, onions and others from  salad bar. one of the meats we got tripitas, which is intestines cut into small pieces and then fried. it was pretty good, but not my favorite.

we had a ward christmas party, it was all in spanish, but it was good, it was a play about the birth of jesus. one guy in the play would over act and it was funny, in one scene he was dying and kept talking while dying and it was very funny, everyone was laughing.

i was thinking of some other things i would like, for christmas or whenever. i bought two sweaters, but i would like some more. if you can the v-necks would be the best so i can show off my ties.

we had another baptism this week, and some of the people she invited to her baptism felt the spirit so that was cool. we are going back to teach the rest of her family too.

we also have a bunch of investigators lined up for baptisms in january, so our schedules will be full.

todo es bien,

Elder Nielson

BTW these are some pictures from our first two baptisms, they are Jose and Joselin.

2016/12/12 and New Mailing Address for Letters

Elder Nielson has moved apartments, apparently in the same complex. Here is his mailing address for letters/cards etc.:

Elder Nielson
13041 Soccoro RD, #206
San Elizario, TX  79849

This is his email from 12/5/2016:

we usually study until about noon, just various stuff, and then we go out and visit members, less actives, investigators and referrals. then come home, plan for tomorrow, then go to bed.

the ward is great, they are very nice, the bishop and ward miss. pres. are great they are helpful. the spanish is coming slowly, it is more difficult to understand them. but it is slowly getting easier.

how does the sharing my emails work again? and what is it called too. Nelson wants to recieve it too.

btw this was my district, and will you add them also to the "Lukie Times" the "Lukie Planet" or wathever you call it, por favor. gracias.

Elder Nielson

Here are the emails from 12/12/2016

To Ross:

for christmas right now i would like some ties, maybe some tiebars, and another of the mission belts. ties with cool or interesting designs. i would love a doctor who tie, but we arent supposed to have ties with pictures or caricatures.

we are in Ysleta, and in the San Elizario area, one guy finished his mission and went home, so we combined with the other guy, so we have a trio and double area. im getting along well with them both, Elder Jones is from Utah, and our 

new trio comp, Elder Faber, is from the lacey stake, and we went to the same camp helaman, we didnt know each other, but once we started talking we found this out. on P-Day, we usually go shopping and clean and play sports as a zone.

on christmas we will go to a members house and skype with you. if you could give me the name to your skype that would be great. we are planning to skype around noon or one your time, but if things change i will let you know next week.

at the store i found a pie face, and thought of you i dont remember how much it was, but i thought it was funny.

i was wondering if you could send me a thing or two that i have at home, like my black nike coat, and my white cardinal waterbottle wherever it is. if i think of anything else i will let you know.

A spiritual/funny thing happened yesterday. we just combined with the other area today so it was just Jones and i, and we decided to fast for our investigators, and to get more new investigators. we did find two possible investigators that we set a return appointment with, and the San Elizario area showed us a list of their investigators, and it was a good sized list. they arent new investigators, but they are new to us, so that was funny. but any way the fasting did work, in an odd way but it was good.

we had two baptisms this week, they were inherited investigators. i baptized one my comp the other, their aunt is the only member so now we are going to teach the rest of the family. we also have a lot of investigators coming from San Eli that are close to baptism, so we might have a lot of baptisms in the next while.

last thing can you send me a list of everyone who can see my emails, plz and thnx.

love yous, have fun stormin the castle.

Elder Nielson

To Jill:

things are doing great, i told dad about my first two baptisms, so more about it is there. the was windy for about a week, but now its gotten up to high 60s.the people are great, everyone is nice, pretty much averyone here knows spanish so im learning. 

there are christmas decorations everywhere, alot of people like the lazer light shows on their houses, its cool. it doesnt feel like its going to be christmas in just a couple weeks. i told dad a couple things i would like you to send me por favor. tell every i know im having a great time and i miss them.

there was a parade for the virgin mary, there is supposedly, MEXICO spelled out and spread out in giant letters across the border and this is one of them (see picture below), and guess what i found in the apartment, VHS tapes. also could you send me, like with the package, a picture of the whole fam, you, me, dad, dec, rebec, and ty. por favor and thank you.

Love you guys, and there are circle Ks everywhere,

Elder Nielson

To Becca:

NM is great, i can see the border to mexico, and everything is more expensive. about half the people here are from Juarez or Chihuahua, and mosty everyone speaks spanish so i am learning, slowly but surely. im looking forward to all my christmas gifts. tell ma y pa that we moved apartments, so if you want to send letters you can send them here: 

13041 Socorro Rd. Apt. 206 

San Elizario, WA 79849. 

mom was telling me about the bear, she said is was Click from dance revolution, LOL.

thanks for emailing, and try not to kill zach (Becca said she may have scared Zach driving in the snow),

Elder Nielson

2016/11/30 Mailing Addresses, and Welcome Back to the U.S.

Hi all!

I googled Luke's location, and his place is a couple miles from the Rio Grande and Mexico. He is about 10 miles from Juarez Mexico. Exciting times! He just arrived in his first area last Monday, and we should get his first P-Day email on 12/5 or so. Thanks for following, and here are some addresses if you feel the need to send him something. He is very fond of cookies and Reese's candy. 

Thanks,

Ross

Here is his transfer email:

Hey im emailing to tell you I made it to my first area safely. my trainer is great, his name is Elder Jones, and I think I am his last companion. I am in a place called Socorro Texas. My new p-day is Monday so that is when I will next email you. 

If you send me stuff please send packages to:

9460 Ariel Rico Court

El Paso, TX 79907 

This is a member that my companion has his fam send packages to a because we live so far from he mission home. My mission home address is 

4400 presidential Dr. NE suite E

Albuquerque, NM  87109 

You can send letters if you want to 

13071 Soccoro Rd, apt #722 

San Elizario, TX 79849

Elder Nielson

2016/11/23 - Happy Thanksgiving!

I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving! Luke will be headed out to New Mexico next week, and I will post his mission address again in the next posting. He loves treats, especially cookies, if anyone would like to send him some.

Thanks,

Ross

Here is his letter to me (Ross):

its still great here, the other elder nielson is from Utah so we might be related.

while my companion and i were teaching a lesson all in spanish, there were some mexicans siting nearby, who were talking, but they stopped when we started bearing our testimonies, we could feel the spirit really strong, and there was a third weeker sitting nearby who told us afterwards he told us it was really cool, eventhough he didnt undersstand he could feel the spirit. entonces, thaat was a grreat experience this week.

im getting ready to leave on monday morning, my biggest suitcase that im going to check, i weighed this morning and it was 49.8 pounds. i will have to move some stuff around. its still great here, we will have a thanksgiving devotional, and im not sure much else.

not much else has happened, we are preparing to leave, i will miss them.

i was thinking about the coss country trip we wre wanting to do and i was thinking we could stop in missouri, more specifically independence and maybe zion. that could be fun. let me know waht you think.

Elder Nielson

The following is his letter to Becca:

tell everyone i say hello back and that its great in mexico. too bad about the basketball. thats awesome about bishop and the sister missionary. i dont think i will b able to get a sombrero. good luck with the silverwood trip. the refried beans dont look the same as back home, they are darker and more liquidy. no thanks to the bowel movement.

you can send me pictures if you want, i will send some back too.

And now for his letter to Mom (Jill)

i forgot to tell you i bought a converter so i can email you pictures, it was only a couple dollars.

and thanks for the package.

its still great here, i got the package on friday, there was dr pepper and 7 up, and tortilla chips and cheese dip and guac. there were also a bunch of reeses. the dips werent very good but everything else was great.

on sundays, we have our whole church before lunch, and a couple more devotionals and a class later, and a video or devotional to end the day. everything is usually spread out, and has some study periods between everything. it is one of my favorite days of the week.

not much else has happened, we are preparing to leave, and we are all excited to be out in the field i will miss them.

Elder Nielson

p.s. dont forget to give out my email to people who want to email me por favor

me

2016/11/16

everything is going great. my week is great as well. i have been studying mostly. my schedule fro a normal day is wake up, study, eat breakfast, study, eat lunch, study, eat dinner, study, plan for the next day and go home and sleep. wew get gym time for an hour everyday for an hour except sunday. we usually go play volleyball. my main goal is being able to understand people when they speak spanish especially when they talk fast. i got an email from austin potter, and one of the people who went home from my zone, but thats pretty much it.

yes i would love a package. goodies would be great and something else as well if you dont mind. send stuff you think i would like plz.

have you gotten a letter yet from me?

i met an Elder Nielson yesterday, i had my companion take a picture of us, i will send it next time. dad do you have any family that lives in utah?

until next time, love you guys

Elder Nielson

2016/11/12 With Pictures

thats great about the car your temporary promotion, and ur calling. hope you guys are having fun, maybe when we go on the cross country trip we can stop at a bunch of the guys homes from my district. the clothes are good, the only problem i have with them is the shirt, the tag is scatching a mole on my neck sometimes so thats annoying.

the spanish is going all right, we still study alot. the food is good.

im ok with you guys giving my email out to my friends, but plz let them know i might not be able to email them back immediately cuz i only have an hour every wednesday right now.

snickerdoodles do sound good.

i heard about Trump winning the election, we are now wondering if we will be able to enter the united states again LOL.

i sent acouple pics to mom if you want to see them.

i also told mom she could send me some care packages from the websites i listed in  the last email

love you and miss you guys

Elder Nielson

BTW here are some more pictures

this is a ceiling in the visitor center and it didnt look like this until i looked at it in a picture.

 this is the temple we went to moroni is bubble wrapped

...And Now For Something Completely Different...

Sorry for the delay in getting Luke's new email posted. It will be there later today. Now for something completely different:

Elder Nielson Pics 2016/11/2

There is Elder Nielson with his zone in the MTC in Mexico City.

Elder Luke Nielson Chronicles - 2016/11/2

thanks for writing back. i sent you a leteter let me know when you get it. i can recieve photos. i found somewebsites where you can send me letters and packages *wink wink* like dearelder.com pretty soon buster will be more lump than stink. gym is my favorite activity, spanish is good, but still hard. i havent eaten anything else gross, but some people have gotten diarrhea. including my companion from some chicken that i was fine with.the temple was great we went again today, it was a little easier than last time, tell everyone i miss them.

two of our district went home for personal reasons, one of them was a Hermana, so we lost three people, and we are now an all guys district. that was kind of difficult, and we miss them.i will try to send ty an email. this week went by faster than the first one, but still kind of slow. 

if you guys want to give out my email thats ok.

Elder Jensen my companion, is the old man of the group at almost 20 years old, he is great, and funny, we get along well.

Elder Travers is from northeast tacoma but three months ago his family moved to china, cuz his dad works for amazon.

Elder Beck is going to albuquerque, he was elder garcia´s companion until he went home.

elder Eckton is odd, but a funny odd.

Elder Gale is a baseball pitcher, who wa offered to play (i forget what it is called) a step down from major league without going to college.

elder Jones is a little uptight and wants to follow ALL the rules exectly, but he is still a cool guy.

elder olson is the baby of the group at just turned 18, he is good at soccer.

elder Barben is our tall skinny ginger district leader he is a little quiet, but a good guy.

Hermanas Johnson and Christopherson are no longer with us.

if you noticed that we now have an odd number, Elders Gale, Eckton, and Beck are a tripanionship.

i will forward some pics to you and then i will send more next week cuz i forgot my camera and someone elses cord might work for my camera.

I forgot to tell you stuffs. some f my favorite moments here are when we sing hymns in spanish. we also had a live feed from Provo MTC, with talks from Pres. Russel M. Nelson and his wife Wendy Nelson, they were good talks. we also listened to some other great talks on sunday from Pres. Call here in the CCM, and David A. Bednar who looks alot like Uncle Peter.

i wouldnt mind if you gave the websites to others in the ward 😊

talk to you next week

Elder Nielson

Elder Nielson 2016/10/26

Here is his first email. It was in a couple parts, so pardon if it doesn't make sense. He was also answering questions we sent.

Everything is good in mexico, they told us the water is actually good cuz it comes from from their well, they advised not to send packages or letters from US to Mexico, they might not get here before i leave, but if you wanted to buy something online thats made in Mexico and send it to me that works well 😁💩

My schedule is pretty much a ton of studying from 8 until 8 with breaks here and there. i havent seen Elder Te yet but i have been looking, they dont really have other missionaries come in the CCM(what we call the MTC). we dont go on excursions, unless we go to the temple on P-Day, which we are doing today, we r only allowed to take pictures on P-Day, which i will take alot. we do pray alot, probly more than ten times a day.

My companion is Elder Jensen, he and my whole district are great, the cord for the camera is the wrong one so i cant upload some pictures right now. the spanish is all right, im still not fluent, but thats ok because sometimes in our native language, we over complicate and in a new language you have to speak more simply so thats better for investigators. we have taught an "investigator" five times now, all in spanish, so they went well, but they could have been better. we have had to rely on the spirit alot.

The exchange rate from US dollars to pesos is 1 US dollar equals about 18 pesos, and everything in the store is cheap, like a full size spanish Hymn book is 40 pesos, and a gatorade was 8 pesos. for christmas i dont know what i want yet so i will think about it. you can send The Lukie Times to whoever you want post it on facebook, but if there is anything you want to keep to yourselves im KO with that. tell Becca and Marine Boy to stop crying. too bad about the car, and even through e-mail your pronunciation is terrrible Dad.

If you guys want me to but you guys something in Mexico let me know and i will try to find it, cuz things here are cheap.

Love you guys,

and mom, i have a deep regard for you as well

Elder Nielson

I forgot to tell you about the food. it is good, we have costco pizza, the big slices, every tuesday night, the only problems i have with the food, was this cucumber juice, and the chicken on monday night had feathers in it still, and weirds little hairs, other than that, the food is great, and we can eat as much as we want. And send these to anyone who wants to know how im doing. Adios.

Elder Nielson

Uno mas. we had a general authority speak last night, it was good, i liked it alot. He was Elder Helemán Montejo of the Fourth Quorum of the Seventy. HA! i told you there were more than one quorum of the seventy. 😝🖖 And i started making a Quotable Quotes section in my journal of all the funny things my district.

Elder Luke Nielson MTC Boy

Welcome all to the Elder Luke Nielson Chronicles. I (Ross Nielson) will be posting Luke's letters home and information regarding him here. I will post a link from this to Facebook also.

If you would like to send Luke email, please do so by sending to luke.nielson@myldsmail.net. If you would like to send him letters and packages, you can send them through dearelder.com. 

His address until November 28th is:

Elder Luke Nielson

28/11/2016 5A

Carretera Tenayuca-Chalmita #828

Colonia Zona Escolar, Gustavo A. Madero

07230 Mexico, Distrito Federal

Mexico

Please don't send anything of value, as they said it won't make it. I will post his mission address soon for after the 28th. 

If you would like to contact me, and be put on a mailing list for Luke's email, please email me at nielsonross@msn.com or text me at 360-269-7007.