December 23, 2015

This week was very interesting and really one that I will never forget in my life. There were so many things that happend and I think I have learned a big lesson. I just want to start off saying all the good things that happend this week, Well Coqui and Daniela got baptized and they are so happy. Cristian didnt get baptized but we will keep on working with him. Well it was so cool to see Coqui and Daniela get baptized. My companion baptized Daniala and Coquis brother baptized him. That day was so filled with the spirit and it was super great to hear what they had to say about their baptisms. I feel like we have just created an eternal family. They have been so strong and have had so many challenges in this process. Through this whole process they kept on saying oh we can't get married and then the next day they said yes we can. haha It was kind of back and forth but I am sure happy that they made the decision to be married and then the next day baptized in the true church. It was so great to hear the testimony of Coqui because he is a person that is really focused on his family and really wants to work hard to give his family happiness and peace. Something special that happend to Coqui is that President Boswell did his interview. He was so ready and it was really cool to see the change in him. Well he went in for his interview with President and we just waited. We waited and finally he left and told us that he was going to be baptized. President told us that he was truely a chosen person and that he was very impressed with the attitude of Coqui. I feel so happy to be part of his conversion. I just feel a connection with the people I baptize. I feel like that relationship is going to continue for the rest of my life. I really enjoyed this week but then again I also had a bunch of challenges. I think this week I learned one of the biggest lessons in my life and I feel like the moment I had will stay with me forever. I feel like that is what the mission does a lot of times. It changes you through many things. I now know what I need to change and I feel like it will be for the good. I just hope everything will be ok. I really do feel the spirit in my life and I feel it help me make decisions. I really dont know what I would do without the spirit in my life. I will always follow its promptings and always search for ways to strengthen my relationship with the spirit. Well really that is all that happend this week. This letter might be a little short but hey I will just talk with you guys on Christmas. haha But yeah I think I am going to do the pre call today. So just be ready for anything. haha because I still dont know when I am going to call. Also I am with the zone leaders and I will stay with them for a week. So I will be in another area. That is to bad but hey I am still going to enjoy the heck out of it. Well I do love you all and I hope you guys have a wonderful week. Love you all.
Elder Nieman

December 14, 2015

This week was good and I feel like we have accomplished a lot of good things. Well just to start out with saying wow the time is getting shorter and faster every week. Just to answer your questions. I will probably call you guys on the 22nd to plan when we are going to skype. Also I am not sure where I am going to be for Christmas this year. hahaha because my companion is going home the 23rd and I might be spending my Christmas in another area and not with anyone I know. hahaha How sad. haha but we will see how that goes. I am very excited to see you guys that day. Well I am super pumped for this week cause we might be having some baptisms this week. haha I dont want to say yeah we are going to have baptisms this week because it always ends up being that we dont have baptisms. hahaha But I feel confident that we will. Well like I said last week we were teaching Coqui and Daniela and their date to be baptized is this week. They are going to get married this friday and then they are going to be baptized this saturday. I feel pretty good and feel so happy to have seen their progression in these last couple of weeks. I think that they are a wonderful family that wants to follow the footsteps of Jesus Christ. It is really cool to go over to their house and see their little 3 year old screaming Hermanos Hermanos. haha and then he comes up to us and just gives us big hugs. haha Lots of times the kids here remind me of my nephews. It is so cool to feel close to my nephews even though they are far away. Well I can just see these people in a year making covenents in the temple and then getting sealed in the temple. I am always thinking about Gods plan and what it can do for so many people and really I am seeing how it affects so many lives here in Peru. And one of the most important is that I have seen it in my family. I always share with the people that my family has been super blessed by applying the teachings of Jesus Christ. Of course we might have had little problems in the family but it always got better when we used what our saviour has taught us. I am grateful for that and I am very grateful for all of you. Wow but I hope that this week goes according to plan. Also we have been talking and teaching a kid named Cristian. He is 18 and he has been learning about the gospel. Honestly in this week he just told us he wanted to be baptized. My companion and I just looked at each other and just said of course. There has been so many things happening in this week and I can see the blessing of the Lord coming to my life. Well if all goes according to plan Cristian should be baptized this week also. But we will see how it goes and i just hope they can finish until the end. Well also we have been teaching a less active that has problems with alcohal. He doesnt want to leave it but we started to teach the word of wisdom and I could feel the spirit so strong. We were really direct but that helped him out so much. Yesterday he came to church and I feel like he is striving to become better. I hope that he keeps on going and I will pray super hard for him. Well a lot of things have happend this week but I cant tell them all. Maybe next week I will tell you all about it. haha Well that is all I have for this week and I hope this next week goes great for you all.

I love you all
Elder Nieman

 My Pension is super funny and pretty cool.

 I bought some Peruvian clothes. Ha!

Helping my Pension wash his car.

December 7, 2015

Well to start off, I got your package. I am doing pretty good with not opening it but we will see how that goes. haha I love the tree. I put it up immediately. haha but wow I can't believe some things. I was going through the pictures and I didnt recognize some of them. For example. Ethan, Wow It has been super long since I have seen him. He is super tall and big. That surprised me so much. haha It is so crazy to see so many people grow up. I am going to come home and it is going to be so different. haha but wow that was a really cool decoration. It really put style in my garage. haha Well the package looks awesome and really I can see me waiting to open it... but then again I do see me opening every present today. ha We will see. Oh and just to tell you all that we are going to have Pday the 22nd of December. We are going to have an activity with the President so we will see how that goes. Well I just want to say that this week was great. I am really trying to help my companion finish. Even though it seems like he is a walking zombie and has kind of lost it.... hahaha but hey that is how it is for some people. Well I just love talking and teaching these people. This week I did splits with Elder Downs and he came to my area. haha Really I had no idea what I was going to do because still I am getting to know the area. But that was really nice because we got to visit some people and it gave me a chance to get to know the area better. It was super funny because I just love walking around with a north american because the people just stare at us. haha I think i have gotten used to it but there are so many people that just look at us. But it was just really good to find new people and invite people to baptism. Also something that happend this week is that we are teaching a kid named David. He is really awesome and we are teaching him the lessons. Well he has a baptismal date for this week. He is super pumped about that and I think he is going to accomplish his goal and enter in the baptismal font. That is going to be so great because all these times that we have taught him, he has had some challenges in his life. I really feel like the gospel has helped him so much and he just seems like a really good person. Well we are planning on the 12th for him to be baptized. We will see how this week goes with him and I will keep on praying for him to be sure about his decision. Also this week we were teaching Coqui and Daniela. And can I tell you that they are super great. Haha we were teaching them about the word of wisdom and we started to say that we can't consume Alcohol, tobacco, illegal drugs and .... Coffee and tea. haha When we said that they kind of freaked out. It was kind of funny because they were super confused. But when they settled down we just started to teach them why. We taught and taught and finally we stopped teaching. They just stand there and the next thing they do was super awesome. They took their packages of tea and coffee, and started to rip it all up. They started to put it in the garbage and they just said yeah we can live this commandment. hahaha that was super awesome and I can just see them progressing. Well I absolutly love the experiences that I have in the mission. Each one teaches me a great lesson. I feel grateful to be here preaching the gospel and sharing the truth with everyone. I hope this week goes good and I really hope everyone is alright back at home. I love you all and hope that you have a great week.

love Elder Nieman

 Oh the temptation! You can see that I opened the toothbrush because I really needed it.

 The tree is awesome.

Elder Downs and I