August 17, 2015 - Phew! What a crazy two months!

Hey everyone!

So... for those of you who didn't know... I'm getting married on Friday! Yep, it's been a busy two months since I last posted on here, or however long it has been... But I hope you'll forgive me for not blogging very frequently... plans change ;) But! On the bright side I did quite well in school this term, and aced my programming class. I also got a new job opportunity that you will hear about later on down the road once it's a started. Before I get going too far though...

First off, here is our announcement for those of you who are curious and in case we missed people:

I thought it was pretty neat :) We're registered online at Target and Amazon, and that plus planning a wedding has taken up a good deal of our time... But.. Hm... how to help you catch up on what we've been up to... perhaps I'll use pictures to describe some key activities in our lives... Let's see what I can dig up!

Top row: Chelsea and I in the MTC, Chelsea & I on July 4, The Mckinleys came to visit!
Middle row: Chelsea and I getting engagements taken, The Mckinleys came!, Me at the temple :)
Bottom: The DeGastons came!, I got a turkey... I guess bowling class paid off!, I'm tiny eating a pop tart, I got baptized! :D

So those pretty well sum up most of what I've been up to, running into mission people, working, school stuff, and being engaged to the most awesome person ever have pretty well consumed my life ;) Plus, I threw in a couple oldies that if you're coming to our reception on Friday you might get to see more like them! So yeah, for the most part my life hasn't been super exciting... especially since I can't speak of most of the wedding planning that we've been doing until after Friday when it happens or else I'm supposedly cursed. Therefore, you should come out to our reception if you can! If you can't... well remind me next week to post and tell you all about it! We're super thankful for all those who have helped us out with various things up to this point... and we'll get some thank you cards out shortly after the deal is done. 

Alas, I'm pretty exhausted already... or else I'd probably make this a longer post. But, since I'm getting married... what do you guys want to hear about?!? Let me know in the comments below and I'll see what Chelsea lets me talk about ;)

Love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Jordan L. Nielson

June 12, 2015 - On to Utah already?!?!?!?

Hey Everyone!

It looks like my time at home has already come and gone as I'm already down in Provo! Those few weeks at home absolutely flew by, so I'm terribly not sorry for missing a few blog posts... but alas, I'll probably make up for it over the next few days as I settle into being in Provo again and find ways to fill time. Anyway, it's been an absolutely awesome time being home from the mission, though I definitely miss it - a ton. There were tons of fantastic people that I was able to meet, and I even got to see one of them on Tuesday! The Bighams were in salt lake, so my cousins and I went down and had lunch with them and it was a blast!! I neglected to take a picture, since it totally slipped my mind, so you'll have to forgive me for that one and I'll do better next time. But alas, Wednesday my awesome cousins brought me down to Provo and spent most of the day with me and it was a blast! We had a delicious lunch at the Pizza pie cafe, plus we got to have a pretty good time going around town. I also got to see my great aunt and uncle in Orem and they seemed to be doing well! They're getting pretty old, but they're still getting around and doing things that they need to each day. I love having family close by, and it's especially fun since I don't know them super well - it gives me a chance to get to know them and that is always an enjoyable experience! I'd highly suggest getting to know some of your extended family, as they're typically at least a little bit different than the people you grew up with and from what I've experienced so far it's been a very worthwhile time!


So, my original plan of having two posts a week doesn't look likely so what I'm thinking now is to change it up a bit and do kind of like what I did with my mission weekly letters - a sort of hybrid tell you how I'm doing and what I've been up to but include spiritual thoughts and things from my studies in each one.
Anyway, a few quick highlights of things I got to do at home:
- Temple trip with the family!
- Church in Winter Park
- Family gatherings... Yes more than one!
- Tennis with Spencer... Where he beat me...?
- Working on a roof with Dad and Grandpa and Spencer and Darin
- Seeing old friends :D
- Spencer's Eagle Court of Honor!
- Watching Night at the Museum 3!


As you can see, I was pretty busy those three weeks and that was definitely a good thing. I learned a lot on my mission, but one of the biggest lessons was the importance of time - because contrary to what some people think, it is not unlimited. There's a great quote from an article I read on my mission that says: " It is a valuable exercise to step back and review the fact that each person has the same amount of time as the next person—168 hours each week. We cannot save time, in reality. There are no time banks. We cannot make up time; it goes by at a fixed rate always." (Rex Allred, June 1977 new era). Something that has been a major point in my studies this week, as I read Jacob 5 and a few other things, was the fact that the Lord would give us as many chances as needed to grow "good fruit" and to change to become more like him. I have found it fascinating as I've come home from a mission how easy it is to change your priorities each day - some days I find it sooo easy to get caught up doing things and not read my scriptures until late in the evening, while others I know it's important enough to do to get up earlier than I absolutely have to in order to be on time that I can read and study.

Something else I've been up to since I got to Provo a couple days ago is working... yep working. It's not always the most exciting thing, but it s actually a very enjoyable job! The folks I get to work with are absolutely fantastic, and it's been quite fun to get back into the swing of things. Alas, I do have to get heading to work, so I hope you have enjoyed reading and I'd love to hear some comments below on things that you'd like to have me write about or make sure to emphasize regarding what I've been up to (like food, or work, or school, or studies, or socializing, or church stuffs, or whatever else comes to mind)!

'Til Next Time,
Jordan

P.S. Throwback to the Masonic Temple in Guthrie for this awesome quote:

May 31st, 2015 - Falling Behind already...?!?

Hey Everyone!

It's already the end of May... and I'm clearly falling behind in my goals with this blog, and various other things. For one thing, I'm hoping from here on out to not let an entire week pass without posting... Ideally I'd like to post twice a week, one being more focused on what I've been up to, the other being more focused on less temporal things - experiences from the mission that have a particular application, things I've been studying, or any other uplifting thing I end up writing about.

So, over the last 9 days the month of May has disappeared, and it looks like June is looming closely - and with it my flight to Utah on the 8th. So, this last week has been a blast! I've been helping my grandpa and dad work on a roofing project throughout the week, and I have confirmed the sad truth that I'm scared of heights. I can't handle being up on the roof well enough to move around quickly up there, so I've been the ground guy - handing tools us, cleaning up debris, or throwing up waters as needed. I've also undertaken projects cleaning my room and attempting to clean out the garage - which has been going surprisingly well. My dad's been helping me to clean out the garage and go through all the stuff in there, It's been an interesting experience finding the treasures that have been buried in that garage for years - like a couple of knives that I made/put together at scout camp over 5 years ago, a bunch of books, a good deal of random outdated electronic equipment, and tons of other random stuff.

Aside from all those projects - which have consumed a majority of my time - I've been trying to spend some time with the Elders in this area whenever possible. I've gone out and done service for an older sister with them - I cleaned out her gutters while they washed her car. I've also gone out with them to a few visits, and then today I attended the spanish group sacrament meeting with them to make sure they had a sufficient number of priesthood there so that they were okay :) I had a good time at that, and it was quite interesting to see where my Spanish was at... I batted about 20% understanding with the speakers/hymns, and had a very spiritual experience during the meeting that helped remind me why it's so important to share the gospel - even if it's difficult. So, how are you doing with living and sharing the gospel? You can find a pretty solid self-check in Alma chapter 5 :) I listened to it this week, and was struck by verse 14 which says: "And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?"

Also of note this week, I played my first round of golf! Kind of. The scouts had a super fun golf tournament to raise money for summer camp, and I finally gave in and played with my dad and Spencer! It was a blast, partially because my dad is pretty great at golf, partially because the scouts made it pretty light-hearted and fun, and also because golf is a pretty decent stress reliever. So, that was a pretty solid event! I don't know if I'd put a ton of time into getting good at golf, but it was a good event for a great cause and I was glad to be able to participate!

Pictures from the golf tournament (thanks Bright House for the sponsorship!):

 



Then again... I also watched my first feature length movie since coming home - Guardians of the Galaxy. It was pretty good, and I enjoyed being able to relax for a couple hours and be entertained, though there were a few points where my missionary mindset kicked in and I got a little antsy after sitting for so long. But, we watched the movie as a family and had a pretty good time together since none of us had seen the entire movie to really know what was going on towards the beginning. So, that was pretty awesome!

I hope y'all are having a great week!

'Til Next Time,
Jordan

Updated! - May 22, 2015

Hey Folks!

So, I took some time today to update my blog's look - so check it out! I also changed the url back to: jordanatbyu.blogspot.com

So, if you try to use the old one it probably won't work - or if it does you'll likely not end up where you wanted to be, which is here! So, you should just use that one. There's a way to make it so that you get an update whenever I make a new post... but I'm not entirely sure how, so if you know make a comment so I can do know :)

Anyway, the last few days have been pretty sweet! I got to spend some time yesterday with my grandmother, who is absolutely awesome! We had a blast doing some genealogy on familysearch.org - which if you've never checked out you should! It's totally free, and we were able to find out more about her biological great-grandfather, who she never met since he passed away from Tuberculosis many years before she was born - in 1910. It was a pretty cool experience, and I'd highly recommend that those of you who don't know much about your ancestors give it a go! You can find out all sorts of things just by doing a few simple searches - typically - like I learned that one of my paternal great-grandmothers was born in Alabama - but her husband was born in New York - how they met I still haven't learned since I'll have to ask my grandmother, but it's definitely fascinating stuff! I also got to play with my cousins a bit, and they've grown so much over the last 2/3 years while I've been away on my mission and in college! It was pretty funny since the littlest one is only a bit older than 2, she had no idea who I was when I got home, and still wouldn't give me a hug yesterday!

 So, throwback to Wednesday when I went up to Winter Park High School with Spencer - after going to seminary with him as well. I definitely do not long for the days of high school again, since going to seminary was rough before when we only lived 15 minutes away... now that we live a half hour or so, it's even more difficult to make it there by 6 - as shown by the fact that Spencer has been late probably 90% of this semester. So, we eventually made it there and had a fantastic lesson focused on Hastening the Work of Salvation... as you probably guessed I got asked quite a few questions, but that's what I was expecting when the topic was first announced. At length we made it to school, and I went and was able to spend time with the fantastic choir directors! It was a blast, and we had a good time catching up and reminiscing. Eventually school ended, and since it was Wednesday it was even shorter than typical! So, Spencer's last day of high school had come to a close, at last!

But alas, I've gotta get a move on, so that's all I've got today! I hope you have a great week :)

'Til Next Time,
Jordan

May 18-20th, 2015 - I'm Home!!!

Hey Everyone!

I'm home now! It's great to be back in Orlando, at least for the time being, and it's been a blast getting to see my family for the last few days! I'll be taking time over the next few days to put up the weekly emails that Spencer didn't get a chance to put up while I was gone, and I'm not sure but I imagine they'll probably end up making this post rarely seen, but that's alright! It was a fantastic two years, and it went by sooo quickly I still can't quite believe it's over! But alas, life goes on even when we don't want it to. So, On to the weekly letters! I hope you enjoy being able to read through them!


Due to some silly people using robots to post things on their blogs, it's become ineffective for me to continue posting the weekly letters, for now. I'll try again tomorrow and see if I can finish it :) I hope y'all have a great day!


So, I guess I'll give y'all an update of what I've been up to since I got home, since it's almost been a week already! So, since my last email that will end up on here a lot has happened. For one thing, I had my final few days as a full-time missionary, which were an absolute blast! We saw a ton of people on Tuesday, plus I had to pack which took up way too much people-seeing time. Eventually Wednesday came, and it was time to head down to Moore for transfers! We got to go down with Kyle, which was a blast - plus, we got donuts on the way down which made a great time slightly better! Anyway, we eventually got down to transfers and I had a good time seeing so many missionaries I knew and saying good bye to them, but there were a ton more missionaries I didn't know - especially when compared to the ones I did. So, I heard throughout my mission that was a sign that you're dying soon and it was definitely true for me! At length we headed down to the mission home for lunch before heading to do a temple session, and then have a Q&A with the temple President! Apparently no other temple does that - so far as we know - so it was super neat. A lot of the questions that were asked he essentially responded that we need to go study it out for ourselves, which is probably because of the principle Alma teaches in chapter 12 verses 9-11: " 9 And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell." So, forgive me for not going into what we talked about with him, but that's a topic for a more spiritually minded conversation than what I've got going here. After we were done at the temple we went out to Porto Fino in the city since our group was too large to fit in the mission home as seen in this picture:

So, we had a pretty solid night after that, and then Thursday was plane day! I flew to Atlanta with Elder Toiava in the morning, and then headed to my flight for Orlando! I got to the airport and was able to see a good deal of my family members! This picture pretty much sums up how happy they were to see me:

It was a fantastic time, and then eventually we headed out and my step mom made some delicious empanadas, while my dad made milanesa. It was a super tasty meal, and then I went to meet with my stake President and was officially released as a full-time missionary. President Munns really emphasized the important fact that even though I'm being released as a full-time proselyting missionary, I still have many responsibilities as a member missionary - which is now going to be much more of a focus than it was before my mission. That evening disappeared to the unpacking monster, though I did get to play tennis with Spencer! He beat me... but we're going to attribute that to my lack of sleep and general tiredness. 

At length Friday came... and it was my first full day as a regular person - or at least no longer as a full-time missionary. I spent the majority of the day with my dad - since he took of work, so that was a good time. Plus, in the late afternoon/evening we got to go to my grandma's house and had a great time there with my cousins! They're all so big now it's absolutely insane! On Saturday we had a ward picnic which was an absolute blast! I met a bunch of the ward members, and we had a good time with a huge soccer game - where the Aaronic Priesthood boys faced the Melchizedek priesthood men! IT was a good time, and the men eventually ended up winning 6-2, so that made it even better! After that we ended up coming home to chill and hang out as a family for the most part of the rest of the day. 

Eventually Sunday arrived - bright and early, since we had to wake up around 6:15 in order to make it so that I could report to the High Council at 7:15... Spencer took me, and it was a pretty sweet experience though so I guess it was worth the effort :) After that I went home and finished up my preparations for my homecoming talk - planning to talk about one of a few topics, and I had a couple different scripture chains I thought of using, and since you're probably curious I'll throw them up here: (If you're not... then skip it. Nobody said you had to read the entire thing!)

• 2 Nephi 4:15-16 > Moses 6:59 > John 5:39 > John 6:15,24,28-29,38,51,60-61,66-69 > 2 Timothy 4:2-3 > Philippians 4:8 > 2 Nephi 4:16
• 2 Nephi 4:19, 34 > Proverbs 3:5-6 > Alma 37:37 > D&C 11:12-14 > Ether 12:4 > Moroni 7:40 > 1 Corinthians 13:13, 1-3 > 1 Timothy 6:17-19
• 2 Nephi 2:5-8, 10, 13, 25-26 > Galatians 3:2> Mosiah 13:27-31 > 3 Nephi 12:19-20 > D&C 88:21-22 > D&C 130:20-21 > Alma 34:8-17

So, for those of you who weren't interested enough to go through one of the chains (since I obviously only had time in a sacrament meeting talk to use one) - essentially they all focused on the Atonement and/or the scriptures and their importance. But alas, eventually sacrament meeting arrived and when it came time for my talk I ended up talking about something totally different - focusing on a talk from President Eyring in April 2007 titled: "This Day" - it's super awesome, and you should totally check it out if you have a minute... I'll even throw a link :HERE!

At length we catch up to the present... but time keeps on slipping into the future and it turns out that another day has passed before I've actually finished this post. So, I guess I'll close up here and throw it to the world! I'd love to hear any comments you might have, and I'll do my best to include any suggested topics in future blog posts!

'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson

May 11th, 2015 - And so it begins...

Hey Everyone!

Well. Here it is. Already. My last time sending a giant email like this for a little while. I'll hopefully keep up with my blog when I get home, so I'll likely send out a link to y'all at some point, but this will be my last giant email as a full (part)-time missionary - at least for now. It's been a fantastic week! The ward here is absolutely fantastic, and I'm very sad to be leaving, but like it says in Ecclesiastes, "1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
 2 A time to be born, and a time to die;"

So, anyway, this week was pretty sweet! It started off great with a fantastic evening for Cinco de Mayo - the member that took us to dinner took us to a mexican place that was pretty tasty! Then on Wednesday we got to have more Mexican food for dinner and I ordered something different and it was quite delicious! We also had a good deal of thunderstorms and severe weather this week, starting on Wednesday so that was pretty exciting. They're mostly abated now, but it's been fun to deal with! Luckily, we didn't get hit with any of the tornadoes or really affected by the flooding that lots of other areas had to deal with, so that was nice. But, we've been focusing on serving the members and helping them branch out and get the things that they feel are keeping them from sharing the gospel out of the way - and for most of them they feel it's time. So, we've been striving to serve them and while we do so we've tried to talk with them about ways they can share the gospel in what they already do each day instead of trying to go out of their way to do it. Hopefully it catches on, but the real core of it is to be a good example, and answer questions as they come and invite people to act as often as possible. We've had a ton of meals this week, and those have definitely been the highlight - as that's also when we've gotten to visit with a bunch of awesome people! We've only eaten at our apartment for like 7 meals in the last 7 days, so that's not too bad. 

Another cool thing about this week, was that I got to listen to the Devotional from last sunday again - and it was even better the second time! Here's a link to it, since it's super awesome: #LDSDEVO! It goes along perfectly with the theme I've seen for this week - faith - since it seems like a lot of people have a difficult time determining if they lack faith or not, and tend to lean towards the end of lacking faith. I'm not sure why, but it seems like so many people want to just start off with a perfect knowledge, but like Elder Robbins says, it's important to take the small steps and continually enduring and act according to the knowledge that you do have.

But alas, one of the reasons that I still wanted to email today, was to go through a lesson or two that I've learned on my mission, so I'm going to get on my soapbox now and I hope you endure to the end of my last email to the group!

So, lesson one: The Atonement is the Most Important Thing!  The Mission tour we had last week focused on this principle for a solid hour or two, and it was fantastic. I've seen the atonement work so many times on my mission in myself and in others that it's been one of my favorite parts of the experience. One time in particular sticks out to me - when Connie was baptized almost a year ago, and she was strengthened so that she could endure that event. It was fantastic to see her health improve to the point where she could be baptized, and it was obviously not because the problems were going away, but because she knew how important that event was and the Lord helped her to do it. But, for the sake of time I'm not going to go into any of the countless other experiences, I'll leave this one with a scripture though: Alma 7:7 "For behold, I say unto you there be many things toc ome; and behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than they all—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people."

The other major lesson I've learned focuses on attitude and happiness - "Attitude is everything and happiness is the best attitude to choose!" Is a quote that I can't recall the source of but has been something that has proven so true throughout my mission. The times that I've chosen to be happy have been the greatest times - and they've also been totally irrelevant of the things that have been happening around me. Happiness is definitely a choice, and it's been interesting to see the wide ranging consequences of it.

But, I've gotta get a move on! I hope you have an excellent week and I'll be seeing some of you on Thursday!

Love y'all!

'Til Next Time (hopefully it's soon!),

Elder Jordan Nielson

May 5th, 2015 - May is here!

Hey Everyone!

I hope your week has been awesome! Mine's been pretty dang sweet, with a great meeting yesterday pushing our preparation day to today! Plus, it's been a pretty awesome week in general - with the best weather I could ask for! Also, for those of you who didn't get to watch the devotional on Sunday I'd highly recommend it! It's fantastic, and here's a link to it: #LDSDEVO!

So, we don't have a whole ton of time to email, but real quick overview of the awesomeness of the week! First off, last Monday - the 27th - we went and toured the Masonic Temple in Guthrie! It's huge, and it was a blast getting to go see the beautiful building again (I'd gone a few months ago, but the rest of the group hadn't been). We've had some awesome dinners this week, but I sadly don't have time to talk about much since we've gotta get going to a lunch appointment pretty quick here. But, we had a good class last Tuesday focused on taking responsibility for our spiritual well-being! The devotional goes along great with it - so seriously if you didn't watch it do it now! It's fantastic. But, we had a great talk about the importance of perspective and how you look at things and the vitalness of taking control of what you do and being yourself while you do it. We shared a couple quotes from President Uchtdorf that I might have shared before... But I can't remember so here's a good one: "Whether your testimony is thriving and healthy or your activity in the Church more closely resembles a Potemkin village, the good news is that you can build on whatever strength you have. Here in the Church of Jesus Christ you can mature spiritually and draw closer to the Savior by applying gospel principles day by day. With patience and persistence, even the smallest act of discipleship or the tiniest ember of belief can become a blazing bonfire of a consecrated life. In fact, that’s how most bonfires begin—as a simple spark.So if you feel small and weak, please simply come unto Christ, who makes weak things strong.8 The weakest among us, through God’s grace, can become spiritually strong, because God “is no respecter of persons.” He is our “faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments.”

It was a great day :) Wednesday we got to do service and had a couple good discussions about faith and how important it is in this life. Thursday came and went with a flash, as we helped a few members with some things and also had a few good visits throughout the day. Friday was pretty awesome, as we had a great district meeting and were privileged to get to go to the temple with Michelle to do baptisms for some of her relatives :) It was pretty awesome and the spirit was super strong as we did it and got to share in that memory! On Saturday we had a blast with various things before going up to Stillwater for a stake priesthood meeting that was pretty awesome! President Bowman is awesome and an inspired man - especially when speaking from the pulpit. Sadly, we've got to get heading out now, so I don't have time to go into much detail, but he encouraged us ot make sure that we as Priesthood holders and members of the Lord's church learn and do our Duty as D&C 107:99-100 exhorts us to do! So, that was sweet. 

I hope you guys have a great week! Love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson

April 27th, 2015 - Flyin' By!

Hey Everyone!

This week just flew by! I can't believe that it's already Monday again, but alas it looks like society will tell me that it is. So, here I am emailing you guys once again. This week has been super good though, so that's probably why it seemed to fly by!

On Monday, after emailing y'all, we got to go and play starcraft risk with a super awesome couple here in the ward, and it was a blast. I lost, but that wasn't too much of a surprise since it seems that I typically lose in such games. But, it was still a blast, and then we got to have a great evening out and about seeing people! Tuesday absolutely flew by, with some baking being done for class, giving a blessing to an older brother in the ward, seeing a couple people before having dinner, and then having a great scripture study class! We focused on being obedient as a method to increase our spiritual confidence before God, and had a few good discussions. The paragraphs from Elder Klebingat's talk that we read this week were: "3. Embrace voluntary, wholehearted obedience as part of your life. Acknowledge that you cannot love God without also loving His commandments. The Savior’s standard is clear and simple: “If ye love me, keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Selective obedience brings selective blessings, and choosing something bad over something worse is still choosing wrong. You can’t watch a bad movie and expect to feel virtuous because you did not watch a very bad one. Faithful observance of some commandments doesn’t justify neglecting others. Abraham Lincoln rightly said, “When I do good I feel good, when I do bad I feel bad” (in William H. Herndon and Jesse William Weik, Herndon’s Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life, 3 vols. [1889], 3:439).
Also, do the right things for the right reasons. The Lord, who “requireth the heart and a willing mind” (D&C 64:34) and who “is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart” (D&C 33:1), knows why you go to church—whether you are present in body only or truly worshipping. You can’t sing on Sunday, “O Babylon, O Babylon, [I] bid thee farewell” and then seek or tolerate its company again moments later (“Ye Elders of Israel,” Hymns, no. 319). Remember that casualness in spiritual matters never was happiness. Make the Church and the restored gospel your whole life, not just a part of your outward or social life. Choosing this day whom you will serve is lip service only—until you actually live accordingly (see Joshua 24:15). Spiritual confidence increases when you are truly striving, for the right reasons, to live a consecrated life in spite of your imperfections!"

They're pretty bold statements, but something that has definitely been taught to me over and over again through trials, lessons, and others has been the importance of obedience in our daily lives. A large part of our lesson was focused on being able to discern between right and wrong, and making sure that we don't choose incorrectly. But, I know that following the commandments of God is one of the surest ways to receive and find Joy in this life and peace as we go throughout each day. 

On Wednesday we got to help out at the hope center, and we also had an awesome dinner! After dinner we got to go out with a super cool member, and we were able to visit with a few people. With them, we focused on the Title Page and Introduction of the Book of Mormon, two of the more overlooked resources in the book. A good chunk of the title page of the book emphasizes it's purpose which says:"Which is to show unto the remnant of the house of Israel what great things the Lord hath done for their fathers; and that they may know the covenants of the Lord, that they are not cast off forever—And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations—And now, if there are faults they are the mistakes of men; wherefore, condemn not the things of God, that ye may be found spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ." A huge part of what we do each day in being obedient to the commandments and striving to follow Christ is so that when Judgement day comes we're able to be found spotless through the Atoning blood of Christ, which cleanses us through repentance and continually keeps us clean as we strive to obey and become better. 

Thursday turned out to be a very interesting day, since it started off with interviews with President after studies - and then we tried to get weekly planning done since we turned into the taxi service in the afternoon for the other missionaries - the other car in Edmond was in the shop, so we had to ferry the other missionaries to and from the church building for their interviews. On the way to the church for the last one, the elders (who are on bikes) got a phone call to go down to the Children's hospital - downtown - to give a baby a blessing... So that they didn't have to bike down there, after their interviews we took them the 10 or so miles down to the hospital, and found it pretty easily. But, the parents weren't there, so we weren't able to give the blessing. Then, on the way back we got a little lost/sidetracked and eventually made it back to Edmond safely. That night we got to visit with a couple people and it was still a very productive evening even tough we spent most of the day driving around... 

Then came Friday, where we had district meeting and then I got to go on exchanges in Guthrie! We started off the afternoon with service for a recent convert family chopping down trees again, and it was a blast! We felled another one, and are slowly working on cutting them into manageable pieces, its a good time for all, especially since it's a pretty solid workout. We had a nice visit with a family that's moving out this week, but it was fun to get to know them before they headed out! Then we had dinner with a senior couple that lives way out in the middle of nowhere, so that was a blast! We had a tasty dinner, and then for the lesson Elder Rasmusson did a sweet object lesson with a Rubik's cube. It was pretty neat! Eventually Saturday came around and we had lunch with Sandy and Michelle as our way to exchange back, and then headed to prepare for Taylor's baptism! 

For the baptism, I was asked to make a treat... so I made cobber and then the Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookie thing, so that was a blast. Then the baptismal service was super awesome, with a couple awesome talks, and a great musical number. The ordinance itself was super spiritual, but that was increased by how awesome the service around it was. Taylor's family that came was super nice, and they seemed like great people! Brother Mckinley took pictures... but we haven't gotten them yet, so you'll hopefully be seeing those next week :)  For dinner the Eckmans took us to a sweet hamburger joint and I got to have a Bison/Buffalo Burger... it was pretty tasty! On Sunday we had a super awesome church service, with Taylor's confirmation, a baby blessing, and the sacrament filling sacrament meeting with an outpouring of the spirit, which was felt by all who were there. Plus, we had some awesome talks and lessons throughout church, the one in Priesthood being from President Uchtdorf's talk, "Lord, is it I?" which had a super awesome quote in it that I wanted to share: "We must approach our Eternal Father with broken hearts and teachable minds. We must be willing to learn and to change. And, oh, how much we gain by committing to live the life our Heavenly Father intends for us. Those who do not wish to learn and change probably will not and most likely will begin to wonder whether the Church has anything to offer them. But those who want to improve and progress, those who learn of the Savior and desire to be like Him, those who humble themselves as a little child and seek to bring their thoughts and actions into harmony with our Father in Heaven—they will experience the miracle of the Savior’s Atonement. They will surely feel God’s resplendent Spirit. They will taste the indescribable joy that is the fruit of a meek and humble heart. They will be blessed with the desire and discipline to become true disciples of Jesus Christ." Sorry it's a bit long, but it's super awesome, and has some intense blessings promised so I wanted to share :) Anyway, Sunday night we had a blast at dinner, and then got to go out with a member and gave a blessing and then took the sacrament to a brother who was in the hospital, so we got to participate in many priesthood ordinances on Sunday and the verse in D&C 84 which says: "Therefore, in the ordinances thereof, the power of godliness is manifest." rang very true today as I felt the spirit very powerfully during each ordinance. So, it was a pretty sweet week! I hope y'all have a great week! Love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson

April 20th, 2015

Hey Everyone!

I couldn't think of a title for this week... so I decided I'd just get into it instead of spending time trying to figure out one... so if it there's a title it came while I was typing the rest of this ;) But, this week was pretty good! It wasn't super extraordinary, though there were a few odd things that happened and some cool things as well! Last Monday started off the week pretty strange since we played sand volleyball... in the rain... for zone p-day. It was pretty fun, but my feet hurt a bit by the end, as well as my arms... and it was chilly. But, we had a delicious dinner provided by an awesome member and then a solid meeting in the evening, so it all worked out.

Tuesday was when the interesting things began, as if Monday wasn't interesting, since I broke my hand mixer a few weeks ago we had to make treats for class at a member's home, and using someone else's kitchen is always an interesting endeavor. You never quite know how their oven acts, or where things are, so that was exciting. But, we had a solid day, and then a good class focused on "increasing our spiritual confidence before God" - through repentance this week. We read some sweet scriptures like Moses 6:57, but I really liked Ezra 10:4 which says: "Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it." Then on Wednesday we headed off in the morning to do service at the hope center... and when we returned to shower we didn't have any water! It was kind of annoying, since we called the apartment people and they didn't have any ideas as to when it'd be fixed, but we eventually got to go and do the things we needed to and ended up having a pretty solid evening with a great night with a member coming out with us. We had a solid visit with one group of people, and got to watch the Church at a glance video, which if you haven't seen I'd highly recommend! It's found here: VIDEO! It's a solid overview of what the church does and the impact that it has and it's only about 10 minutes long. Then on Thursday after weekly planning we did more service... since the water was still out. After that we called and asked a member if we could shower at their place, since it still wasn't working when we returned from service, and we needed to shower since raking leaves works up a pretty good sweat. So, we eventually got it figured out and taken care of an ended up having another good evening! We had a good visit with Sandy about scripture study, reviewing the article in this month's ensign about it. Find it here: ARTICLE!

We had some pretty sweet other visits thoughout the week, but for the sake of time since we have to get going pretty soon I'll skip to talking about Kaelynn's baptism! She turned 8 on Saturday and we had been working with her for the last little while to help her feel ready to be baptized, and she was! The spirit was so sweet and strong at the service, and the talks were fantastic - and short. So, we were able to focus on the ordinance itself which is super neat. It was fun to be apart of it, and it's always nice to be able to see people change :) One last quote that we came across yesterday as we were going over teaching from the scriptures in Teaching, no Greater Call with Michelle yesterday: "President Howard W. Hunter said: “We ought to have a Church full of womenand men who know the scriptures thoroughly, who cross-reference and markthem, who develop lessons and talks from the Topical Guide, and who havemastered the maps, the Bible Dictionary, and the other helps that arecontained in this wonderful set of standard works. There is obviously morethere than we can master quickly. Certainly the scriptural field is ‘white alreadyto harvest’” As we strive to immerse ourselves in the scriptures, great blessings come - as our 3rd hour lesson on "the Power of the Word" focused on, but a large part of that immersion has to come from a personal love from the scriptures, which is only obtained through understanding and applying what we learn. And so, I'll close with this quote from President Benson: "Success inrighteousness, the power to avoid deception and resist temptation, guidance inour daily lives, healing of the soul—these are but a few of the promises theLord has given to those who will come to His word. Does the Lord promise andnot fulfill? Surely if He tells us that these things will come to us if we lay holdupon His word, then the blessings can be ours. And if we do not, then theblessings may be lost. However diligent we may be in other areas, certainblessings are to be found only in the scriptures, only in coming to the word ofthe Lord and holding fast to it as we make our way through the mists ofdarkness to the tree of life.^4"

I hope you guys have a great week! Love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson

April 13th, 2015 - Copperhead?!?

Hey Everyone!

This week was a blast! We got to do all sorts of fun things throughout the week - particularly visiting people and feeling the spirit while doing so - but also some sweet service and a great fast and testimony meeting. 

So, I'm just going to get right into it, since ya know... you're probably curious about the subject of the email and that's not until the end :P So, Monday was pretty sweet after emails last week, since I got to play a little tennis Australian style with a couple sisters in the ward, and then we just had an awesome evening visiting with people and trying to do all we can to help them read the Book of Mormon. It turned out to be a pretty sweet day on Tuesday, after my handmixer broke... we had to go to a nice families' home to make cookies for class, so that was a blast. Plus, we had an awesome member out with us in the afternoon and had a few spiritual visits, which was quite enjoyable. It's always nice to be out with members, especially when they aren't super uptight and worried about if we get in with people, but just enjoy being out trying to help people. Eventually it was time for dinner, which was super delicious and a blast since we got to have it with another awesome family... yeah... we're just super blessed here with tons of awesome families! I can't be grateful enough for all they do to help us, but it's pretty sweet. Finally it was time for the scripture study class - and we had like 16 people there! It was pretty sweet, and the treats were well worth the effort to make (they were chocolate chip cookies with an oreo inside them), especially since they were almost as delicious as the spiritual feast we got to have talking about conference :) We talked a lot about what President Monson counseled us to do - focusing on temples and doing our duty and following Christ, but we also had lots of good input as to parts that particularly hit people. A question President Uchtdorf asked in Priesthood session has been on my mind a lot: "I wonder if our organizational and personal goals are sometimes the modern equivalent of a Potemkin village. Do they look impressive from a distance but fail to address the real needs of our beloved fellowmen?" As I've been pondering that I've been reminded of a verse in Matthew 16 which says: "For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it." Ponder that for a little while and let me know what you find! I'm still working on applying that to my personal goals, but you'll probably hear more about it at a later date. 

Wednesday came and went with a blur, as did Thursday, we had some sweet dinners, some good service opportunities, and a few good visits, but nothing super worth going into detail about as of right now... that's what a journal is for ;) So Friday came and we got to have district meeting and then I was on an exchange in Guthrie South for the rest of the day - it started off pretty typical... not really, but it's the same way last Friday started - cutting down trees for a recent convert family and having a blast doing it. We're using axes... don't worry... they're not as dangerous as chainsaws, right? They're definitely slower, and we've not been told we can't like we have with chainsaws, and we haven't had any injuries - except blisters - so it's worked out pretty well so far! It's quite a good time though, and then the family we were going to have dinner with called and asked if we could help them clear a part of their yard that was overgrown and so we headed over! We spent a good hour helping them, and then decided to stay another 15 minutes before going back to change... and ended up finding and killing a Copperhead! It was pretty exciting, and very entertaining since we didn't know it was a copperhead at first... until after we'd killed it at least. We chopped the head off, and then Elder Wilcox picked up the body and Elder Rasmusson picked up the head (... he didn't know what it was...) and they somehow got the head to bite the body... it was pretty gruesome. But, it was fun and a nice picture opp! So, there's a couple pictures attached of us being crazy! We also did get to have a nice visit later that evening, and had a good chat about patriarchal blessings and temple and family history, so that was sweet. 

Then we got to Saturday and we got to have lunch with Sandy and Michelle - plus we watched a sweet video about the conversion of Wilford Woodruff, so check it out! VIDEO! We also had the privilege of going out with Dallin Cutler, since he was in town for his wedding reception and called us up to see if he could. So, that was a fantastic time, and it was great to see him again! We had a pretty solid visit with a couple and also were able to try a few other folks. So, that was sweet! That evening we got to go out to dinner with a fantastic family, and they took us out to the boundary - a super delicious barbecue place in our area. Then we came back and got to visit with a couple other folks before calling it a day! Sunday came, and we had a pretty fantastic day! We got to have a very good fast and testimony meeting, and then we headed out and tried a few people and ended up tracting a little bit before dinner. Dinner was with a super neat family, and then the husband came out with us to see people and we caught a couple single sisters! It was neat to be able to visit with them, and we ended up giving both of them a blessing - for different reasons, but the spirit was super strong. So, that was a pretty awesome way to end the week! I hope y'all have a great week! Love y'all! 

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson