Fall, Illness and General Conference

(Written Monday, October 5, 2015)

Hello family and friends,

This week there really isn't too much to report because I spent most of the week laying on a member's couch recovering from a nasty, nasty cold that wiped out my whole body.  It was a lot of sleeping and some interesting concoctions like apple cider vinegar mixed with water to heal a sore throat, elderberry which is nasty, a Cayman pepper water mixture, berating treatments, and lots of other strange things from members.  I've tried lots of them now. I ended up staying with one family who nursed me back to health while my companion continued to work with other members and missionaries. But I did get to watch conference, and boy, was it powerful!  I got answers to my questions and felt the spirit even from the couch in my pjs.  I've felt a little lazy because it's the missionary mentality, but I knew that if I kept working it would only get worse and I slept sooo much!

I think the biggest things that I got from Conference were things that I can do better and also protecting myself and future family from temptation and also to just simplify life. My favorite quote was by Elder Hales quoting Elder Bednar, "When you cannot do what you've always done, do what's most important!" I really like that, it helps me want to prioritize when I go home and make better use of my time and simplify.  Too many people have the regret when they are close to passing away that they wish they would have spent more time as a family or made fun memories and so my question to you this week is what is most important to you and how will you make that a priority this week?

I know that Heavenly Father gives us time to do all the things we want to do when we put Him first. It's not logical, but I know it works, I've seen it in my life. Make time for what really matters and you will see.

I love you all, please know I am doing much better and ready to work and see miracles this week, prepare to be amazed!

Love you all!
Sister Alayna Nelson

PS-Again I can't get on the normal computer, maybe later I can
send you pics from my other camera, but I really didn't take photos this week.

Yes I did take a photo on a selfie stick, it was radical I guess, and I'm doing much better now.
This is Haley, she comes out with us all the time and she took care of me!

Breathing treatment

"Hoosier finds Corn in Sin City"

 (Written Monday, June 22, 2015)

Hello Family and Friends,

Hope all is going well, this one won't be too long because I was actually kinda sick this week, so a lot of my time was spent sleeping! I am trying to take care of myself in the best way that I can! But we did have some cool things happen this week!

The first picture is of me with corn! YES I FOUND CORN! Yay! One of our members is a bike vendor, just like in Mexico they ride around and sell things like chips, slushies and corn with mayonnaise and chile and Parmesan cheese, it's really good and I haven't had one since my brother made them a long time ago, so it was great and I felt really authentic to the culture for a little bit ;)

But the biggest thing that happened was our valley wide family history fair! We had a man come down from Salt Lake City that is in charge of Latino and Mexican records and he talked to us about our families and learning about them, which was incredible! My Spanish is getting so good now that I don't really have to think so hard and pay attention, but like English I can just sit and realize oh wow, all this is going in one ear and making sense right away! YES! This is a good place to be! At any rate, he really made me want to do family history research and learn more about my family! He talked about how the most important part isn't the date of birth or the date of death but the dash in the middle that sums up our whole lives and that if we can capture stories and pictures of them, they will continue to live on forever and won't really be gone and we can learn from them so much!

My Recent Converts Gaby and Jorge were there! It was so good to hear that they will be going to do baptism at that temple this Saturday.  The dad an son have the priesthood now and the son went to youth conference in Utah this past week! The parents came to do family history at our fair and they told me that Alejandro has already done so much family history work, this kid is on fire and so elect :) I am so proud of this family! They are doing great things!

Malachi 4:6 is a prophesy that we can fulfill today "and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers."  If we turn to them and knit our hearts with theirs, we can learn and grow so much! My invitation to you this week is to visit the church's free website (for anyone in the world to use, not just members of our church ) www.familysearch.org and start learning about your family! One thing the man said was that if we don't record the stories, they die with the person, but if we talk to our grandparents now, we can preserve pieces of them here with us forever :) The biggest question I am dying to know is how my grandpa met and married my grandma! I wish I had time to do family history work right now, so you'll have to do it for me and tell me what you learn this week! I promise it will bind you to them and it will bind you to your savior! David Archuleta has a really cool song that came out about Family History, it's in Spanish and called Nunca Pense.  Get excited about learning about your families by listening! It's wonderful!

Much love,
Hermana Alayna Nelson

5 Days, 8 Pounds, 1 Sickness, 4 Conference Sessions

(Written Monday, April 6, 2015)

Howdy Friends and Family,

It has been an interesting week and I wish I had something incredible to share with you, but sadly, since Tuesday afternoon, I have been incredibly sick and have had to stay home for five days. Because of this illness, I have lost 8 pounds, but I am working on regaining them, don't worry.  I've done a lot of sleeping, journal writing (to get caught up, which is the never ending goal of every missionary) and a lot of thinking about church things and reading when I wasn't too exhausted. I think I am on the upward climb out of this horrendous illness, but because of it, I have no exciting experiences to share.

But, I did manage to sit in on General Conference where we get to listen to the Prophet and apostles of the Lord share their testimonies and counsel with us about withstanding the trials and challenges of this world. It was so great and so inspiring, probably my favorite talk was Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's (Ash, if you could post the talk on my Facebook and blog that would be so awesome) it talked about the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ in the most beautiful manner I've ever heard. Simply, I will only add my testimony to his because he says it better than I could but I am so grateful for Jesus Christ and the amazing work that he has done for me. He loves us, we need only to turn to Him!

One thing that I loved from conference is that our way to show our love is to simply be obedient to what he asks of us. So although Easter is over, remember Him and love Him by being obedient, not just this week, but for always and I know you will see beautiful changes in your life!

I love you all!
Here is to hoping that this week is much more healthy and full of miracles!

Love, Hermana Alayna Nelson

PS: These pictures are
1) to show you how scared I was that they might have to do blood work at urgent care, thankfully they didn't and
2) to show you that I'm actually doing much better now, so don't worry! Love you :)