October 27, 2014

Everyday is a freaking rollercoaster. haha I miss lagoon. One day I totally understand and I can talk and there are no problems and then other days I start talking and the people give me a weird look and say they dont understand. haha it sucks but I love it and I like messing up cause that is how I am going to learn. YES¡¡¡ I finally made someone cry. I think every begining missionary wants someone to cry because of the spirit. haha no just kidding but it was really cool this week cause I taught a lesson on diligencia. Wow I didnt even notice I wrote that in spanish. Diligence. haha my spelling sucks. But yeah we go up to the door and this married couple who are members invite us in and when we get done with the opening prayer my companion turns to me and just smiles. haha I was totally caught off guard. Well it took a while to start but when I started to go I could feel the language just spit out of me. I dont even remember what I said but I guess it was really good cause they felt the spirit and actually learned something from me. It is super cool when we put all our trust in the lord and really come closer with him through prayer and studying the scriptures he will help us. That was the first time I felt like a tool for the lord. It was also a really good confidence builder but then the next day it was really hard to talk and understand. haha oh well I will keep on trying. All of our investigators are progressing and they all came to church on sunday. Me and my companion were pretty pumped and it looks like we will be getting some baptisms soon. It is really exciting and I am so happy to be here and just helping people. Even on the bad days and it feels like all is coming to an end I can still feel the spirit. I love our heavenly father cause he is helping me so much. I feel like everything is going well and this week I will have the oppurtunity to go to the temple. I am so excited to go to that amazing place.

Other things that happend this week was Elder Martinezs birthday was this week. It was intresting to see how they celebrate birthdays and just how they do stuff. haha after the celebration my roommates found the hand sanitzer and got some matches and started to light their hands on fire. They really wanted me to do it but I looked at their hands and they were all burnt. Yeah I quickly declined that offer but it was really funny to see them freak out. Oh my there cake is the best thing I have ever tasted. I really cant describe how mean of a cake they bake. A lot of the food here is so good and then there are some other things that arent so good but hey I will need to get used to that. HAHA when I get finished with my food at the pensionista they ask if I want more and when I say I am alright, they just laugh and bring out another plate. haha So much food and it is so hard to finish it all but that is ok cause I like the food. Update on me getting fat nope. It is never going to happen. This is so random but This week I thought a lot about you all and how much love you give me through all your letters. It really helps me out and I just want to say thank you. This has been difficult but it always lifts me up to see all your letters. I truely with all my heart love all of you guys. I know I say that every week but I just want you all to know that I mean it and you guys are the best. I couldnt have asked for better people in my life than you guys. Well that is all I have for this week and I will talk to you next week.

Love you all forever
Elder Nieman

Service is the best!

Another service project

October 20, 2014

These weeks just get faster and faster. Do you guys realize I have been in Peru for a month. It is really flying by for me and I am not sure about you guys but It is going pretty fast even though it has been a month and a half. This last week was alright. I got to do so many things but I can only tell a little. This week my companion had to go to immigrations so that meant I would do cambios with another companion in another area. His name was Elder Soto. He was really cool but didnt speak any english at all. It was actually really good for me cause after I changed back to my companion I understood everything he was saying and what all the people were saying. The language is coming and it really gives me the chills when I speak cause I can understand and I can talk a little bit. Haha it is actually alot more easier to understand than talk for me. Which is really frustrating but I know my talking will come. But anyways with Elder Soto we went to his area which was in La Molina. La molina is so much richer than my area. It was really weird going from not that rich to freaking rich. I really liked La molina and it was really nice to expirence a different area and teach new people. I also saw the temple for the first time and wow it is so beautiful. When I saw it I really felt like all my stress and all my worries went away. It was so amazing and I cant wait to go to the temple. Oh and by the way I love my new watch and so do a lot more other people. Soooo yeah I dont have my watch anymore. Sooo you might need to send me another one. haha no just kidding but I really like it and I gave my cute diamond one to my pensionista for her birthday. I will have to send a picture of our awesome watches. Oh man though the stuff in the package was so good. I laughed so hard when I read the letter and it said here are some fastbreak bars for a couple weeks. hahaha which I had already ate before I read the letter. Wow I miss american junk food. haha The food here is actually some of the best food I have had and it is really delicious. Well at least most of it. The drinks that have weird clumps in them arent my favorite but hey I will get over it. but thank you and I am glad I have such a wonderful and supportive family that send me really good stuff. I love you all.

I really like the mission right now. Even though I speak really really bad I love what the mission teaches and what it is doing for my life. I havent felt this way for a long time and I really feel like I am helping so many people. There are going to be so many struggles and and really there will be times I want to come home and just quit but I cant wait for those times cause that is when I will become stronger. I really liked this week cause we met this man that is so intrested and he wants to learn more. His name is Bernando. We invited him to come to church and automatically he said he will be there. Sunday rolls around and we see him with a big grin on his face and just so happy. After sacrament meeting he comes up to me and just gives me a big hug. He starts saying how beautiful that was and how he loves our church already. At that moment it really hit me that this reason is why I am here doing this work. It is so amazing to see the peoples faces when they recieve the gospel. We told him we would stop by his house later that day and when we did his whole family was sitting there and waiting to hear what we had to say. We havent invited them to be baptized yet but he keeps on telling us how he wants to be a part of the church. It was really cool and I am so happy I am out here helping people like him. Well this week was good and I hope all the weeks are like this but they probably wont but that is ok. I love you all and I do try my very hardest to answer all your emails. I love all my friends and just everyone that has sent me support. I love you all and I am so excited to tell you more and more expirences I have.

Love Elder Nieman

 Wonderful picture of me in my glory

This place was super awesome!

 

October 13, 2014

Well this week went a lot better than the other week. I am starting to understand a lot more and I just feel like the spanish is coming. Haha but next week I will probably say oh that week sucked, I am never going to learn spanish. That is just how it is lately I have some good days but then other days arent as fun. This week I have a story about when we taught Familia Cuya. They are two old people that are so nice and they were the first family we taught when I got here. After our lesson the wife turns to me and says can you give me a blessing for health. I think she saw the worry on my face cause it was true I was nervous to say it in spanish. But she says I could say it in english. Haha those words were the best thing I heard this week. I kind of looked at her weird and said if she was sure she wanted the blessing in english. She said yes and me and my companion started with the blessing and when I finished she automatically turned to me and said I understood what you were saying. It took me a couple seconds but I realized that we were speaking the same language. The language of the spirit and through the spirit we can do anything. It was really cool to have her have so much faith in me to say that blessing. It was really the highlight of the week. Later that week we saw her and she said once we left she felt this energy and power overwhelm her and she thanked us like a ton of times. It was really good to hear and boosted my confidence but anyways this week was alright. I am still trying to adjust to the enviroment and just life here but everything is fantastic. I really do love the missionary life and just everything that you learn and what you can improve on. I had a chance to finally watch confrence and it was so good. Luckliy they had a computadora that had it in english. It was really weird though cause throughout the talks given I was getting so much out of the talks. At home I took GC for granted and I am so grateful for General Confrence. I loved all the talks and I just love this gospel. There wasnt much that happend this week but I did get pooped on by a freaking pidgen. I was so mad and it was in the middle of a conductas. Haha I was super embarrased but I had to go back to the room and change. Well today is my happy 2 month anniversary. 22 more to go. haha I really try not to focus on that to much but it does come in my mind every once in a while. I really do love all of you and I hope I showed that love when I was back home. You have so much time to think when you are out here and it really hits you on what you have got. I really am so grateful for all of you and I hope you are enjoying everything back home like chocalate and Ice cream and just freaking american food. I actually really like all the food. This week we had crab that our Pension caught himself. haha so that was pretty awesome but then we had heart. haha I really dont mind the weird food and I love trying new stuff but anyways I love you all and I hope your next week is going fantastic.

Love you all forever
Elder Nieman

 My district after soccer

 Just chillin on the rooftops

Elder Martinez and Elder Dzul. Also me and my companion

October 6, 2014

Oh this week was really interesting. I dont really know what is going on at all and I can say this is the hardest thing I will do. Well that is until I learn the language fully. This week was kind of a downer for me but hey I am going to have a lot of those on my mission. But this week was the first time I felt hopeless and felt like I wasnt going to be able to do this. I am not going to lie to you cause that is bad but I broke down quite a few times. I know I am not supposed to tell you all the negative but I know you guys know that I will be fine. One of these past days I was having a really hard time cause I didnt understand and I couldnt really think. We went back to our room and I immediately kneeled down and prayed to our heavenly father. I prayed for about a hour asking for help asking for some way I can get through this. After I prayed we went to one of our meetings at a members house. We watched a mormon message in spanish. haha I didnt know what they were saying but I remember watching this one before. It is by Elder Crisoferson. haha I botched that name. But in this video it told a story of a farmer that cut down this beautiful tree and the tree asked why did you cut me down. Why did you do this to me. The farmer then says in order for us to become beautiful and perfect again we must be cut down. By being cut down it will make us stronger and it will make us more like HIm. Right now I am being cut down and I might not know why I am being cut down but I know I will become stronger from this whole experience. After that day I was a lot more positive and felt differently about learning spanish and just being on a mission. If you havent seen it then go watch it cause it is really good. (See video below)

Anyways Peruuuuuuu. haha oh I love everything here. I love the people and I just love drunk people. haha that is kind of random but they are litterally the funniest people ever. This one guy comes up to me and starts yelling that I am Moroni and I should make him stronger with my magic power. I did pretty good at not laughing until he picked up a garbage bag and started to throw it up and down and he started to run out in the streets with oncoming traffic. He was so nuts. He threw the garbage bag at the cars and started yelling at everyone. Yeah we had to run pretty fast to get away from him. Everything this week has been really good though. I am starting to get to know a lot of the members and a lot of our investagodoras. They are all so happy and they love life. Haha The only thing that I dont like is that they call me gringo, americano, and sometimes they just look at me like I am a monster. haha everyone is so short and their doors are really tiny to. I am getting off subject though. I feel like a lot of people here do not like americans. haha That is ok. This one lady we had lunch with hates americans and the first thing she said to me was... You have beautiful eyes. So that is a really good sign. Also a lot of people like it when I smile at them. They just start laughing and saying oh gringo. haha I really like the work we are doing and I am so excited to learn spanish and actually start to communicate better. Oh and to answer your question I do have a sweater and I use my jacket a lot to. WHat it sounds like it is going to get a lot hotter. We didnt get to watch confrence which I though was kind of weird but that is ok cause we ended up teaching a bunch of families that day. I noticed something this week. The children love missionaries. They just come up to you and give you hugs. haha it is adorable. The food here is really good and I havent had anything that weird. We did have I think pig ears or some type of ear but it was pretty good. I am not getting that sick either which is good but I might later. It sounds like everything at home is going really great and I am just happy for all of you. You guys are the greatest and I love every single one of you. My family and my friends are the greatest thing that I could ever have.

I love you all forever
Elder Nieman

 Enjoying the food. It is way good.

My glow stick works really good. My companion has never seen a glow stick before so he wanted to know as soon as I opened it. haha

"The Will of God"