November 23, 2014

I keep on saying it every week and I am sorry if you are getting sick of hearing it but everything is going so fast. I really cant describe how quick everything is going. I am staying super busy with walking and teaching and walking and teaching. I have actually really gotten used to being tired. haha It was really weird cause I forgot it was thanksgiving this week. I didnt even figure it out until I looked at the calender and it was the third thursday. I thought it was at the begining of the month. It is just going by so fast but then again I have my days where it feels so long. This week was so good and I feel my tounge being loosed. Also I just understand a lot better than I did before. A lot of things happend this week and I might not be able to tell you all of them in the time I have but I will try. This week we had a multizona and Elder Wadell from the quorum of the seventy came and spoke to us. He was so tall and I think he was bigger than Presidente Boswell. Well it was so awsome to have him come and just talk in spanish for 5 hours. haha My head hurt so bad after that but amazingly I heard every word and understood it. Before he talked he shook everyones hand and that was a pretty cool thing. He was super funny and it just seemed like he really cared about what our problems were. Everything he said helped me appreciate more of the things I am doing on this mission. It really made my whole week a lot better. That was probably the best thing that happend this week but also we had a baptism. Elder Martinez baptized this little peruvian boy named Nickolas. He was so young but his testimony was amazing. Before he was baptized my ward mission leader turned to me and asked if I could teach a lesson on the holy ghost. I accepted but I was really nervous to talk cause it is spanish and I dont really like spanish right now. haha but when I started to talk the words just came to my mouth and I said what I wanted to say. After I was done with the lesson everyone had tears in their eyes. I am so thankful for the spirit and really if I go through all my mission without a baptism and it is just me teaching with the spirit and having others feel the spirit, I will be totally fine with that. It makes me so happy and I have never expirenced this happiness before. This week was really good for me to understand that it doesnt matter how many baptisms you have, it is just having people feel the spirit. Dont get me wrong baptisms are great and really that is why I am here but I like to focus on having people feel the happiness I feel each day. I am so thankful to be serving a mission right now.

I might not be able to get through all your questions mom but I will try. If I dont today then you can just ask me on christmas. I think that will be easier. But anyways, I probably walk 30 miles or even more each day. It depends on how many lessons we have. We take a bus to the church but that is really the only time we do. When we conducta, that is going door to door and asking people if they want to hear the message we have. There are 4 others that are in our ward which is our district. On my P day we either go somewhere like a market or play soccer and I heard that we get to go to some ruins some time so that will be fun. When we went to the temple that was on a thursday and we got up in morning and went to the session. Well I am running out of time but I love you all and keep on writing me cause I read all of them and I try to respond to all of them.
Love Elder Nieman

 Ward mission leaders and other ward leaders

 Spider in a box...they get bigger!

 Millie, our pensionista's daughter. She's adorable and really likes to make this face

Hanging out on the rooftops

November 17, 2014

This week was great and it flew by so fast. Every day seems so long sometimes and then I find myself at the end of the week. It is really crazy how fast it goes. I thought a lot about if there will be times were it feels like my mission is never going to end or if it will just fly by. It is super crazy that I have three months in my mission and November is flying by so fast. Next thing I will know it will be december and then march and then a year and then boom.. I am home. I am not thinking much about that, it is just a lot of the missionaries say that. Well I am enjoying everything right now except for the humidity. It is so hard to sleep because of all the humidity and it is so hot in our room. Even with the fan going. haha and it is only going to get hotter. ahhh. Also it is kind of hard to sleep knowing that cockroaches and spiders are crawling on you. haha that hasnt happend yet but the bugs I have seen so far make me think that every night. Anyways there are so many things that I am trying to remember this week to tell you but its really hard for me to remember. Last weeks P day was really exhausting. We went to a market were there was nothing but people and shops. I would have taken a picture but I guess that is a really good place to steal stuff so I didnt take anything expensive. Each day is an adventure.

So this week we had an activity for members in the ward and also investigators. We played games and it was actually super fun. At the end of all the games Elder Alacama turns to me and says teach everyone a lesson. haha There was about 80 people there and I didnt prepare anything at all. I was super nervous and really I didnt know what to say but when I started the spirit just took over. My lesson was about faith and how we need to have faith in Jesus Christs atonement. After I was done with all of the lesson, Elder Netzley who is from Cache Valley came up to me and said I didnt make any mistakes and everything was perfect. Yesss. haha I was so happy and many people came up to me and thanked me for the lesson. The members in my ward call me powerful Nieman. haha It so cool and it really boosted up my confidence. Well I really do try my best with these letters but that is all I can think of that happend this week. Oh and one more thing we had a baptismal date for this Saturday but Nayeli is her name didnt come to church. But that is ok cause I know she is coming next week and next week we should be having a baptism which is super awesome. But I will talk to you next week.

Love you all
Elder Nieman

November 10, 2014

Woow. It is getting really hot down here. haha One day I asked my companion if it gets hotter than this day. He just started laughing and said that it was cold right now. haha Well I guess during these next couple of months it gets super hot. Dont worry I will make sure to drink plenty of water. Well this week was really boring but it was full of hard work and really it kind of beat me up. haha This week I went to immigrations and had to sit in a office for like half a day for two days. It was super long and just really boring. Although we had Immigrations Elder Alacama and I taught 15 lessons which is pretty good for only working for 3 days. I am going to have to return to that dreadful place in three weeks but then I am done for the rest of the mission. Also this week was transfers and we got a new elder in the house. I am staying with Elder Alacama for another six weeks and Elder Dzul left and we got Elder leufjiesfusdf. Haha it is a really weird name and I forgot how it was spelled. Elder lercher (but spelled with like the whole alphabet) is really intelligent. When I was getting to know him I asked what he did in high school and he said he was home schooled. So I said oh so your mom or dad taught you and he just looks at me with a weird look and says I taught myself. hahahaha What the crap. He just got here to Peru and he speaks really really good. It is kind of hard to see someone learn so much faster than me but it is ok cause he is like one of the smartest people on the earth. ok Amen

I really loved this week cause I had the chance to go to the temple. The temple is one of the most amazing places on this earth. When I entered so much peace and happiness came to me and really I felt like I was home. Through out the whole session I really felt close to you guys. I remembered when I went through for the first time and how happy and how my life was. Now I thought about the people in my life I care about. I thought about my family, friends and it didnt hit me until I got out but I thought a lot about my investigators. It is seriously one of the greatest places on this earth and I cant wait to go again. I am also extremely grateful cause the temple is in my mission and not many other missions get to go. It is just great and it really made me relax and realize why I am here on my mission. In my mission the goal is baptisms but it is mostly getting people to the temple. It is so great cause I get to help people be worthy enough to go to the house of the Lord and for that I am proud to be serving.

That is all I really have for this week and I really hope my letters are helping you understand what is going on and what is happening. Everything is going good for me and I really hope it is all going good for all of you too. I hope I remembered to answer all your questions and all that. It is great to be a missionary right now.

Love you all
Elder Nieman

 I really like the temple

 We play soccer at 5 a.m.

I found really really good ice cream...finally!

November 3, 2014

This week was good and really nothing really happend that was really amazing but I am just going to talk until I feel like there is enough words. This part is mostly for mom cause I know it will make her feel good. Last week in my letter to the mission president I said I was having a rough time with adapting to new stuff and learning the language and just a bunch of other things. I thought that he only read a couple letters each week and didnt really respond to any of the letters. Well that night we get a call. Haha we kind of freaked out cause we were jamming out to Motab but on the caller ID was Presidente Boswell. My companion answers and gives the phone to me. haha I was feeling like I did something wrong but when I answered I heard his voice and he says helloooo Elder Nieman, it is so good to hear your voice. haha my mission president is really the best and he has helped me so much already with so many things. He talked to me for about 30 minutes saying I have only been in Peru for a month and of course the language isnt here yet. But if I pray and study and work hard it will come. I also learned that he reads all the missionaries emails each week. All 230 missionaries. He stays up until 12 in the night reading and praying on what he can do to help. He is really the nicest person anyone can meet and really shows christlike behavior everyday. I wanted to tell you this cause I am being taken care of. I have so many people here in Peru that are helping me. My pension, my companion and other missionaries are here for me. It really makes me feel so good and I am so happy to be serving in this mission.

This week was really good and I am trying to think of things that happend but I will just write down some little things cause I cant really think. Oh Happy birthday to my man Tatum. 4 years old and really I cant believe how big he is getting. When I get back it is going to be so weird to see him. I hope he knows his uncle josh loves him and I hope he knows that I am going to be there for all his other birthdays. Also happy birthday to my awesome sister shellie on the 6th. You are truely an amazing sister and I wish I could be there and say happy birthday but hey I can do that in 2 years. hahaha Shellie I dont know why but you always think I dont know your birthday. Happy birthday to my sister on the 9th of november. haha I love you.

This week was really good cause I actually felt like I was teaching pretty good. The more I learn spanish the more I think english is a really weird language. haha but spanish is really weird but it's really simple. The problem is just memorizing words and putting them into grammer. Back to the teaching we taught this guy named Cesar. He had a lot of doubts and really had a hard time with understanding. We taught him lesson 1 and throughout the lesson I saw his face change and really the spirit was with us. I taught a lot that lesson which is really good for practice but it really felt like I was pretty fluent. There was a time in the lesson were Elder Alacama was saying the first vision. It was really cool to see this man with doubts just change like that. When Elder Alacama said this is my beloved so hear him I saw the change in him and now he is super interested he came to church on sunday and really I feel like he is going to be baptized soon.

Well everything is going great and even though we are kind of in a slump with baptisms, I enjoy everyday and I love to teach. Especially when I can get the words out I want to say. Oh yeah and if you guys are getting tired of looking at my beautiful face and you want me to send a picture of member or ugly dogs or other things I see just tell me. Well I think that is a pretty good sized letter. Tell me if you want more information or just ask anything and I will answer them.

Love you all forever
Elder Nieman

 In front of our church

This was really weird. It had the texture of slime.