September 30th, 2013 - 4 Months in Ponca... Where has the time gone?!?!

Hey Everyone!!

So, First things first... a couple days ago, I hit my 4 month mark of being in Ponca... I'm not even sure what happened! It's been super awesome, and gone by ridiculously fast... but... I get to stay here another Transfer!!!!! I'll still be working with Elder McGlothlin, and the majority of my district is staying the same... except for the one who is leaving on Wednesday!

So yeah, I'm staying in Ponca :)

This week was pretty awesome, we had some cool things happen :)

One of the visits we had this week we taught the plan of salvation to a lady. It went pretty well, but something she said really threw me off... she told us she wanted to go to the Terrestrial kingdom... I was so confused! I didn't think anyone would not want to go to the Celestial kingdom... But I found someone! 

Another cool thing that happened this week was I got some slippers! While on exchanges we visited a less active sister, and she gives each Elder she meets some slippers she knitted... they're super warm :) She also mentioned that she knitted Afghans... which are apparently blankets... who woulda thought? I asked her what they were, and she gave me one :) It is also super warm :) So yeah... there are tons of awesome people here!

So since I got to Ponca the member who owns the house we stay in was supposed to remodel the enclosed garage and put a bathroom in... that still hasn't really started yet (and it's been 4 months!) but we got some work done on that this week! We got to build a platform to put the washer and dryer on, because they're going to have to raise the floor to put the plumbing in for the bathroom. So yeah, we got to help with some remodeling work :) It was pretty neat.

Okay... next on my list is this ridiculously tasty restaurant here in Ponca... We spend quite a bit of time eating out... each Friday and Monday we eat out for lunch, and occasionally members will take us to get food. So yeah, it was neat to be introduced to a place unique to Ponca City. It's called J.W. Cobbs, and it was super tasty :) They have this really awesome Pot Roast, their rolls are delicious, and their burgers are quite tasty as well. The best part... is that it costs less than $10 for a full meal there - a plate with Pot Roast, Mashed Potatoes, and French Fries was only $10. It was awesome. So yeah. If you're ever in Ponca City, try it. 

I think that's all the random stuffs from this week... So yeah, so stuffs I've learned this week is all that I've left to write about :)

This week I've done a lot of learning about my potential... the truth that we're all children of God is so awesome! Because of that, every single one of us has a divine potential, and our goal is to live the way we should to be worthy of that. It's super awesome, and President Uchtdorf talked a bit about it in his talk "Your Potential, Your Privilege"  (Check out the link!). It's a pretty great talk, and he brings up 3 really awesome points - Reading the Owner's Manual, Seeking Revelation, and Finding Joy. So, I've decided to relate his talk on the potential of the Priesthood to the potential of a mission. The cool thing is, the first presidency has given us an owner's manual to read - Preach My Gospel - through revelation. We also receive plenty of revelation from God, and I've been learning recently how missions are supposed to be joyful. Truly this life was made so that we might have Joy! (see 2 Nephi 2:25) 

Anyway, another thing I've been learning this week is the importance of sharing the gospel of Christ. He truly commanded his apostles to "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" and this command also applies to us. Joseph Smith told us that "After all that has been said, the greatest and most important duty is to preach the Gospel." So as part of that I've been doing some studying recently on how everyone is able to help in preaching the gospel. It involved a lot of reading in the manual - Preach my Gospel - and also perusing some talks related to it, but here are some thoughts I came up with:

• Everyone you meet is a Child of God - Because of this truth that you know, you should tell them! It's something that is key to knowing what you really can accomplish with your life.
• President Hinckley Said: "Now, my brethren and sisters, we can let the missionaries try to do it alone, or we can help them. If they do it alone, they will knock on doors day after day and the harvest will be meager." So how can we help them? He continued: "The gospel is nothing to be ashamed of. It is something to be proud of. “Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord,” wrote Paul to Timothy (2 Tim. 1:8). Opportunities for sharing the gospel are everywhere." So look for them!

I think that's enough thoughts for this week... Hopefully you all have a FANTASTIC Week :)

Love,

Elder Nielson

September 23rd, 2013 - Fall is here?!?

Hey Everyone!

In case you didn't notice, yesterday it officially switched to fall! And... get this... Oklahoma actually has seasons! It was significantly cooler this week, and the leaves are even starting to fall and change! It's pretty awesome :) 

Anyway, this week was pretty good :) We got to start visiting with a couple part-member families again this week that haven't talked to missionaries in quite some time, and they both agreed to let us go through all the lessons with them :) From what I've seen, there are a lot of part-member families here in Ponca city, and quite a few of them haven't even really had a chance to go through the missionary curriculum and learn the things that they should, so we're working to fix that.

This week we also got to do the stop smoking workshop with one of the people we visit with. Apparently a lot of smokers want to quit even before they have a good reason like the Word of Wisdom and all it's promised blessings. Who woulda thought? But yeah, that was pretty neat. It's cool to see the different reactions people have to the 15 steps - especially the grapefruit juice one :)

Another cool thing this week that happened is that we got to visit with a couple of the "super busy" investigators we have that we're almost never able to catch because they work a ton of hours and are just crazy busy. One of them we got to teach the plan of salvation to, and the spirit was so strong! We could definitely tell he was getting questions answered, and he was also seriously considering what it means to him and it was just awesome :)

This week we got to go to a birthday party! Some of the members of the ward meet at Burger King most mornings at like 8 or 9am, and we got invited to a surprise party for one of them turning 80 this week :) So... we got to eat cake at 9am on a Friday Morning :) It was pretty awesome :)

Aside from that, my studies this week have been pretty good :) I spent a lot of time in Alma and I particularly studied Alma 26, 45-47 and 1 Nephi 22. They're all pretty great chapters, so I'd highly recommend spending some time in em ;)

I particularly like Alma 46, which is the chapter where Captain Moroni raises the Title of Liberty. Something that I learned new this time reading it is that even back then they needed the constant reminder of their purpose. In Alma 46:36, Moroni causes that the Title of Liberty be raised upon every tower, in order to "plant the standard of liberty" among the Nephites. Much like that, the Prophets and apostles of our day have given us something similar, in the pamphlet "For The Strength of Youth". So, go check it out :) 

http://www.lds.org/manual/for-the-strength-of-youth?lang=eng

Anyway, that's all I got for this week! I hope you all have a fantastic week!!

Love,

Elder Nielson

September 16th, 2013

Hey Everyone!

I hope you all had a fantastic week! :)

My week was pretty great, we had a ton of awesome things happen and it was super awesome!

So to start with, I got to go on two exchanges this week! Man. I love exchanges. The Elders I get to serve around are incredible. The first one I got to go on exchanges with - my district leader Elder Glad - is going home at the end of this transfer - a mere 3 weeks away. So, it was neat to be able to get his perspective on ways to do things and to get his advice. We also got to visit with a couple people and he taught me a lot about having faith that people will be at their appointments. After we do everything we can it's entirely up to them, and that's something I've really been struggling to not stress over. But, such is life. 

Then on Friday I got to work with a zone leader - Elder Cutler - who's absolutely incredible. For the first part of the day we were walking, so we stayed pretty close to the house, but we still met a ton of people. It really showed me the impact of talking to everyone! For that day, we ended up with 5 new investigators, which was more than we've had in the last 2 weeks combined. So, that was pretty sweet. We also got to visit with quite a few people that had kind of fallen off the radar because they are so busy, and that was awesome. 

In the time between those two exchanges, we visited many many many less actives - I think we actually got to meet with about 20 of them... It was intense. We've really been focusing a ton on meeting the members on our rosters, and finding out why so many of them don't come to church. I've learned that a lot of it is the habit - once you get into the habit of not coming something else will always fill that time. For example, one lady we ran into always does her grocery shopping Sunday mornings at about 10. It's interesting to see what things become priorities when church falls out of the picture. So, get to church! It's important ;) 

We've ran into quite a few people this week who question the point of going to church when so many people go and then are totally different right when they leave the building. What I've learned from that is the main reason we go - to partake of the Sacrament as administered by the Priesthood Authority of God - should really be the only reason. Yes the fellowship and the classes and activities are nice, but the sacrament is the focus. The reason we go to church then - the sacrament - is really why people who don't always do the right thing should go to church. The Savior has told us how the whole need no physician, and there's a saying throughout the church how it isn't a sanctuary for perfect people but a hospital for sinners. So, go to church :)

Anyway, on a slightly lighter note we had breakfast with the Bishop on Saturday, and he tried out his new double waffle maker... guess what that means?!?!? WAFFLE EATING CONTEST!!!!! He ended up making probably about 15 waffles... and I ate 5 of them. Yeah... I won ;) The other food was also super tasty - the eggs, sausage, bacon, and rolls which I also had my fair share of. So, yeah, breakfast was awesome! It made for a really interesting day biking, but it was still a pretty good day :)

I think that pretty much covers this week... So, some things I've been learning! 

I haven't done much just straight up reading this week, so sadly there's no list of scriptures... for those of you who like that :P

I've studied a couple topics this week, and they're pretty awesome :) I'll tell ya the topic and what I learned and see if you can't get something cool out of it as well :)

Topic 1: The Example of Ammon & The Sons of Mosiah

This week I've really been trying to learn all I can from Alma 17-26, so I studied those for a while. One of the biggest things I've been working on applying from their example is the importance of patience in afflictions. That applies to fasting and prayer, and just afflictions in general. There are multiple references throughout those chapters where they are told to be patient in their afflictions, and one way they did that is by fasting and prayer. It really is so key. 

Topic 2: The Importance of the Priesthood

I've been reading some talks from this past conference in preparation for the one in a couple weeks, and some of them hit me really hard so I spent a little more time in them. Check out:

"These Things I know" - President Packer

"It's a Miracle" - Elder Andersen

"The Power of the Priesthood in the Boy" - Elder Callistar

"Your Sacred Duty to Minister" - President Beck

They're all pretty awesome talks, and I think the biggest theme I saw in them is potential. It's so important to strive your best to live up to your potential, and the best way to do that is by living the Gospel and keeping your covenants. If you truly want to be the best you that you can be, it's so key to let Heavenly Father do the molding. 

Bonus Topic: Standing in the Light

Another cool topic that was addressed a lot in this last conference was Standing in Holy Places. My version of that is a little broader and is a combination of Elder Holland's talk - "Lord, I Believe" and Elder Hales - "Stand Strong in Holy Places". They're both really awesome talks, and there are a couple other talks that refer to light and ways to build it. For example, President Uchtdorf talked about light in "The Hope of God's Light", and Elder Porter's talk "Beautiful Mornings" also falls into this topic. So yeah, Light's awesome so keep what you have and seek more :)

That's all the preaching I got for this week ;) 

Love,

Elder Nielson 

September 9th, 2013

Hey Everyone!

So, I feel like I just emailed you like yesterday... so sorry if you feel the same way! It's actually been 6 days... so not quite a week ;)

But, it's been a pretty good 6 days! We've been able to see some people and visit with them, drive down to the city, and also have stake conference! So, some highlights!

First, stake conference. Pure awesomeness. The sunday morning session is all we get to go to, but it was entirely focused on temples and why we need to go to them. Our stake president here is also quite awesome (he's featured on some of the "Work of Salvation" Videos) and he gave us a list of scriptures to look up (actually... he quoted them to us and told us to find them and study them.)  :

These ones focus on studying the scriptures:

• Hebrews 4:14-16
• 2 timothy 3:16-17
• 2 Nephi 28:29-30
• Alma 12:9-11

These are kinda random, but they're all pretty awesome ;) Try and find the connection between them!

• Alma 37:33-37
• Mosiah 3:19
• Helaman 3:35
• Romans 6:16-18
• Moses 5:6-8
• D&C 97:8

So yeah, it was a pretty dang good conference :)

On Saturday I got the chance to tag along and go to a couple baptisms down in the city, and that was pretty sweet. The drive was long (it's 100 miles each way), but well worth it. The two people who were baptized are incredible! They both have such solid testimonies that the church is true, and it made me realize that a testimony at first is simply a belief and that's all that is needed. 

Another highlight from this week was the chance we had to visit with a fellow we recently started teaching. The cool thing was how the Lord works in diverse ways to get things done. While we were visiting with him - next to our favorite snow cone shack - a sister in the ward and her husband drove up and asked us if we'd be able to call them and come do some service later in the week. It was pretty neat, because usually at that time of day we're not at the snow cone shack, but we ran into our investigator down the street when he was on his way there.

Anyway, that pretty much sums up this week. The upcoming week is looking pretty awesome, so I'm excited to see what happens!

So for studies this week, I don't have much to share with y'all... at least that I've planned out before, so we'll see what I can find.

So some scriptures for your reading pleasure:

• Mosiah 4:2,3
• Mosiah 4:9,10
• Mosiah 4:14,15
• Mosiah 4:30
• Mosiah 5:5-7
• Alma 44:5
• 1 Nephi 18:15-16
• 1 Nephi 18:21
• 2 Nephi 25:26
• 2 Nephi 26:12
• 2 Nephi 26:25-28
• Luke 1:37
• Acts 5:29-32

Alright, so I think that's enough with a list of scriptures. So, now I get to talk about something I've been applying/learning this week! One of the things I've really been trying to apply this week is based off of Helaman 3:35, specifically the part where it says "they did fast and pray oft, and did wax stronger and stronger in their humility and firmer and firmer in the faith of Christ". So, I've been fasting more often, and praying a ton, and I've noticed that the more you fast the more you realize how dependent you are upon God. It's super cool. Try it!

Another cool thing I read this week was the conference talk "It's a miracle" By Elder Andersen. Check it out:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/04/its-a-miracle?lang=eng

Anyway, that's all I got!

Love,

Elder Nielson

September 3rd, 2013 - Surprise! Yay for Holidays!

Hey Everyone!

I know you weren't expecting an email from me today... but because yesterday was Labor Day and the library was closed we have to email today! Hopefully that doesn't throw off too many people's weeks...

Anyway, this last week was pretty good! We got to see a ton of people, and I've gotten to learn to work with a new person. Changing companions is definitely interesting, especially because you spend the majority of your time with each one getting used to how he does things - just to switch it up when you get a new one. 

So the highlights of the week! This week was pretty chill in most cases, we got to visit with and make contact with quite a few people, including most of our investigators and a good deal of the less actives on our side of the ward. Something we've really been focusing on a lot is working with the people we have - investigators and less actives - to get them to church. From what we've seen so far it's been successful as people are understand and recognizing the importance of coming to church, along with the fact they need to be reading from the Book of Mormon. We had a pretty sweet meeting yesterday focused almost entirely on that - getting people to do the small and simple things (Church, Read, Obey, and Pray). 

Another cool thing this week that was brought up again was the 17 points of the true church (as well as the 42 evidences of Christ's true church). They're basically a list of points that are found in the Bible that Christ's church must have in order to really be his church. One of our members brought it up with an investigator we've been teaching regarding how he needs to decide for himself which church is true. The cool thing was the member that brought it up was raised a Methodist, which is what the investigator is(was). So, they were able to connect there and they both mentioned how there are quite a few similarities between the two faiths. 

Anyway, my favorite part of these emails is the chance I get to reflect upon my studies for the week and try and share something that will uplift you guys, so that's what I get to do now. 

So this week my studies were kind of all over the place - focusing on things from Revelation, to common consent, to repentance, to the importance of callings. So, some scriptures from that:

• D&C 24:9
• Acts 15:6, 24-25
• 2 Nephi 4:15-35
• D&C 27:2
• 2 Nephi 8:24
• Acts 16:4-5, 25
• D&C 28
• 1 Nephi 16:29
• Moroni 6:4
• Romans 10:17
• D&C 130:21-22
• Moroni 10:3-5
• Helaman 3:35
• D&C 93:21-23
• 3 Nephi 17

From all these scriptures what you get is definitely related to how much you apply it to yourself, so try it! That's where the majority of my learning has been coming from - that crucial step of taking a scripture and figuring out ways that it is relevant to you right now.

Well, that's all I got for this week! 

Hopefully you all have an excellent week :)

Love,

Elder Nielson