October 28th, 2013 - My daddy's birthday!

Hey Everyone! 

It's my dad's birthday today, so Happy Birthday Dad! He's 47 today, and still kicking it! 

Aside from that, this week was pretty good! We've been doing quite a bit of service, had zone conference, and seen a few people. 

So, the highlights from this week! The first one was this Saturday, while we were helping a member clear some trees from his yard. I kinda got hit by one after he chain-sawed it down, and his son was behind me with his chainsaw on, so I didn't hear when he said "Look out". I've got a nice little scrape to prove it, but it wasn't too bad. The tree was only a few inches wide, not exactly a monster ;) That day we also got to help him pen his baby bull (I think they're still called calves, but I'm not sure) and sore it out from the other cows that his neighbor has. It was pretty exciting as it tried to - and almost succeeded - at jumping out of the pen. 

Another highlight from this week was zone conference, which was super awesome! President Walkenhorst taught about Obedience and relating that to the Doctrine of Christ, and showing us how those are soooo intertwined. It was pretty neat. Later on, he discussed repentance with us, having us watch "The Divine Gift of Repentance" By Elder Christofferson. Our Zone leaders also gave a training on "Teach when you find, Find when you teach" with a super awesome drawing related to it, but I don't have a way to send that out to y'all. There were lots of good scriptures and quotes, so I'll send you some of them:

From the discussion on Obedience:

Effects of Disobedience: Alma 41:10, Helman 13:38, D&c 1:3, D&C 97:21, Helman 5:3, 1 Nephi 20:22, Moroni 10:22, Romans 6:23, 1 Samuel 15:22-23, Alma 36:12, D&C 88:35

Blessings of Obedience: D&C 1:24, D&C 58:6, D&C 130:20-21, D&C 58:32, D&C 59, Abraham 3:26, Romans 6:23

Other Scriptures from Zone conference: 1 Nephi 16:29, Alma 37:17, 2 Kings 5, D&C 100:1, Mosiah 5:2, D&C 11:21, Alma 17:2-4, D&C 31:3, Mosiah 2:41, Moroni 10:32-33, D&c 1:23, Moroni 9:6

So... that's probably plenty of spiritual things for y'all to work with this week, so I'm going to skip where I talk about my studies. 

Love y'all! 

'Til Next Time,

Elder Nielson

P.S. the picture of my nice scrape should be attached. Also, sorry this letter is kinda on the shorter side.

October 21st, 2013 - Fall... has come and gone?

Hey Everyone!

So... this week was pretty interesting! I got a cold, the weather got really cold, we did a ton of service, and one of our investigators was interviewed for baptism! It was super exciting, so I'm going to tell you all about it :)

First off, the thing that's been on my mind quite a bit this week was the weather... for the most part it's been nice fall weather - in the high 60's and low 70's - but there was two days this week it was miserably cold. One of them, it was raining as well, and the temperature got no higher than 48 degrees. Needless to say, this Florida boy wasn't very happy. The grass was also frozen a couple mornings this week, so that was exciting. 

Along with this awesome weather, we've been dealing a lot with fun medical issues! My companion had a wonderful looking rash on Tuesday from an allergic reaction to something, and then Wednesday I got a swell sounding cold with a nice cough to go with it. So, this week has been fun in that aspect :) we've still gotten a little bit of work done, but not nearly as much as if we were both 100% well :/

A lot of the work we've been doing though has been service! One day, we spent a good 4 hours helping one of the members pack the moving truck to go to New Mexico - Sad day :( Another day we spent the vast majority of it helping one of the members work on building a bathroom in our house! It's been pretty exciting - I'll attach a picture or two of it :) 

But, the highlight of the week - by far - was Nakesha was interviewed for baptism! She passed, which was awesome :) She's super ready, but we're still waiting a couple weeks for the ward to get to know her a little better since none of her family is in town. So, pray for her if you please :)

Aside from that, last monday we had zone p-day and a super awesome specialized training meeting. They based the training on the talk "Beware of Pride" and we discussed some things we can do to become better, stronger missionaries. Some quick highlights from it: 

• Pride is competitive, so to become a better missionary don't let comparisons define you
• disobedience is a way we show pride, so obedience is a key to becoming a better missionary as it requires humility to obey someone else
• We must Know the Doctrine - as we study the doctrines of Christ, we are better able to teach, expound, and testify. Knowing the doctrine also humbles us as it increases our perspective and knowledge of God. 
• We must learn to pray. Prayer is one of the ultimate forms of humility, because a prideful person cannot pray. They cannot understand that prayers are two way communication, because they do not obey Heavenly Father and will not receive answers that do not follow their way of thinking. So, take control of your prayers! Seek to remember what you pray for, and learn to recognize those answers. Sincerely account to the Lord for what you do, and seek his counsel to help you!

Alright, those are the quick highlights from that. Now I get to talk about things I actually studied... until I think of some other random thing to throw in here :P

So, a scripture that stuck out to me this week was in Alma 37:44, when Alma tells his son Helaman to "For behold, it is as easy to give heed to the word of Christ, which will point to you a straight course to eternal bliss, as it was for our fathers to give heed to this compass, which would point unto them a straight course to the promised land." He teaches us that it truly is simple to follow Christ because of how simple his doctrine is. In 3 Nephi 27:19 he tells us his doctrine in the simplest form I've found: "And no unclean thing can enter into his kingdom; therefore nothing entereth into his rest save it be those who have washed their garments in my blood, because of their faith, and the repentance of all their sins, and their faithfulness unto the end." It truly is that simple, faith, repentance, and "faithfulness unto the end" is all we need to do. But that is everything, isn't it? Think about that this week ;)

Another thing I've been studying this week is the steps that take someone from a simple desire to believe, all the way to true conversion. The Sons of Mosiah's account talks about this pretty detailed, so here are some scriptures I really liked:

Focus of my study: Alma 22:18 & Alma 23:6

Desire: Alma 32:27 & Mark 9:14-24

Testimony: Alma 5:45-47 & John 7:17

Conversion: Luke 22:32 & Mosiah 5:2

You could spend days learning about this stuff, so that's all I'll talk about for now ;)

I think that's all for this week! 

'Til Next Time!

Love,

Elder Nielson

October 14th, 2013 - Where has the time gone?!?

Hey Everyone!

So, I just realized that tomorrow is my 5 month mark... which is ridiculous, because it definitely doesn't feel like it's been 5 months since I got our here. When I hit this point during my year at BYU, it definitely seemed like it lasted forever... but I guess that's what happens when you're out working each day instead of doing something less exciting like studying. 

Anyway, this week was pretty grand!

So, some highlights! 

First off this week, we'll start with yesterday. We had a super tasty dinner at one member's house - pancakes, a hobo breakfast type skillet thing, and biscuits! It was super tasty, and we had a pretty good chat. We talked about Elder Ballard's talk and the challenge that was issued therein. He said: "We are simply asking all members to pray, knowing that if every member, young and old, will reach out to just “one” between now and Christmas, millions will feel the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful gift to the Savior." We discussed what it meant to "reach out" as he said, and decided that it could include anything from inviting them to meet with the missionaries, inviting them to church, to read the Book of Mormon, or even to invite them to a family home evening or dinner where the gospel is discussed. If you noticed, each thing we came up with started with "inviting" - it involves doing SOMETHING to invite people to come. We're not being asked to invite them to go somewhere, but to come where we are, to feel the joy we feel each time we do something that invites the spirit into our lives. This same challenge was issued to the Ponca City Ward from our stake high councilman when he spoke yesterday, so it's definitely something we should consider doing. So, for those of you reading this who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I invite you to accept the invitation of Elder Ballard - and the rest of the people included in that "We" (The First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles). For those who aren't yet, I invite you to check it out! Come and see for yourselves what brings me - and so many others - such great joy.

Another cool thing that I found out this week is that my step-brother Frank has decided to serve a mission! Yay!! He's super awesome, and I'm definitely excited that he's made this decision to follow the commandments of the Lord and serve him. If y'all could pray for him that'd be awesome :) I know that prayer is powerful, and he could definitely use some.

This week we had a ward fish fry! I love when the ward has activities, because it's such an easy way to invite people to meet more members of the church! We had about 60 people there, and about 10 of them were non-members! It was super neat, and everyone there said they had a fantastic time. The great meal was just a bonus ;) even though I don't like fish...

Anyway, this Tuesday we had dinner with this super awesome family! We got to have Chili and Cornbread  - super tasty - and we talked a lot about the importance of finding out for yourself what things are truth. Something I realized from that conversation was that even though everyone has to find out for themselves what the truth is, there is and only will be one truth. God, our Heavenly Father, is the source of all truth, and as such he's told us that there will only ever be one true church that is built upon his doctrine. That church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I know that, and you could try to tell me otherwise, but like Alma says in Alma 30:40-41 

"40 And now what evidence have ye that there is no God, or that Christ cometh not? I say unto you that ye have none, save it be your word only.
 41 But, behold, I have all things as a testimony that these things are true; and ye also have all things as a testimony unto you that they are true; and will ye deny them?" 

Aside from all that, this week was pretty normal ;) My Studies were grand, as I spent about 90% of my time in the Book of Mormon. I started it from the beginning again on the 4th, with the intent to highlight all the times Christ, God, or any other name for them, or a pronoun referring to them is said - which results in many underlines throughout the book. It probably won't be much use for studying later, but it definitely has opened my mind to how much it truly is "Another Testament of Jesus Christ". I'm at Mormon 9 at the moment, and hope to finish it today sometime, so we'll see what happens :)

So this week was pretty great :) 

Love you all!

Love,

Elder Nielson

October 8th, 2013 - October... 7th? or 8th?

Hey Everyone!

There was a little mixup yesterday, which resulted in us emailing today instead... so sorry if that threw off your plans! I hope each of you are doing awesome!

This week has been pretty awesome. We had some pretty neat visits with people, and there was General Conference - which was awesome - to make the week that much better! There were also transfers this last week, and the new guy in the district is pretty neat - he's from Medesto, California so that's pretty cool. 

So, I'm going to start with conference... because that was pretty much the highlight of my week! I love listening to all the talks and learning things that I can do better to follow Christ, and there was much that I learned!

In order to make this make any sense, I'm just going to list my favorite thought from each speaker/talk... otherwise this might get chaotic ;) None of these are going to be word for word, it's just the jist that I wrote down, so bear with me.

Elder Hales -> The Greatest Blessings of conference come after conference is over when we live the principles taught.

Elder Solares -> Failing one day is no reason we can't succeed the next!

Sister Stephens -> 1 Corinthians 12 - Do you know who you are?

Elder Dube -> In the service of the Lord it's not where you serve, but HOW!

Elder Bednar -> As we live the law of tithing we often receive simple, significant, subtle blessings.

President Uchtdorf (Sat. Morning) -> Come, Join with us! Three reasons people do so: (1) Church restored by Jesus Christ himself with his authority (2) Church provides opportunities to do good (3) Walking the path of discipleship leads to precious blessings

President Packer -> Scriptures are a key to our spiritual protection

Elder Christofferson -> There is no career superior to being a mother or father

Elder Nielsen -> We must each develop our own game plan, but there are some things we should include: (1) Specifically pray each day, to bring someone to the gospel (2) Pray for the missionaries serving in your area and their investigators BY NAME (3) Invite a friend to an activity

Elder Valenzuela -> Let us reach out to others with Faith & Love

Elder Dyches -> All that is unfair about life can be made right through the atonement

Elder Holland -> If we do not take the time to be well, we will certainly take time to be ill later. Live by faith, hold fast to hope, and show compassion one to another

Elder Ballard -> Sharing the gospel is a privilege, not a burden

Elder Perry -> The Articles of Faith are among the most important and concise statements of doctrine

Bishop Caussé -> We must make the first move to make people feel welcome

Elder Funk -> Humble yourself, Abide in his word, and Hearken to the Spirit

President Uchtdorf (Priesthood) -> You can do it NOW!

President Eyring (Priesthood) -> The parable of the good Samaritan is also a parable of the overtaxed priesthood bearer and we are the Good Samaritan

President Monson (Priesthood) -> There is no time like the present to kick up our home teaching efforts!

President Eyring (Sun. Morning) -> God has devised means to save each of his children

Elder Oaks -> Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God's Approval

Sister Oscarson -> Desire to share the gospel & confidence to do so is a natural result of conversion

Elder Maynes -> Our ability to endure is proportional to our testimony & conversion

Elder Scott -> As you lose your life in the service of God's children, Satan's temptations lose power in your life

President Monson (Sun. Morning) -> Making the gospel the center of our lives is the key to enduring

Elder Cook -> People can be enslaved by philosophies and physical things

Elder Andersen -> We receive Comfort, Strength, Protection, and Peace through the Priesthood

Brother McConkie -> Missionaries and Teachers are still too focused on delivering comfortable, repetitious lessons from the manuals, we must learn to treasure up the lesson plan and then set it aside to follow the spirit's guidance and truly teach as the Savior would

Elder Hamilton -> There is a purpose for each hour of the 3 hour Sunday Meeting block, and we should never pick or choose which meetings to attend, but faithfully attend all of them

Elder Ochoa -> Don't forget to look up!

Elder Vinson -> The more I learned about Christ, the less I wanted to leave him

Elder Nelson -> We are never too young to learn or too old to change

President Monson (Sun. Afternoon) -> May we show more kindness to those around us

And those are the thoughts I have for conference :) Sorry if that's a little more lengthy than intended, but that's what you get :P

Aside from conference, this week was pretty normal... if such a thing exists in missionary work? We had some neat lessons with our investigators, started teaching a couple new people, and learned a lot. One visit in particular was pretty neat, as we taught the first half of the plan of salvation to one of the people we've been visiting with for a while now. He was super interested in it, but about halfway through it we veered off and discussed conference and priesthood authority instead of the rest of the plan, and it was super awesome to be able to testify of the fact we do indeed have a living prophet on the earth today! We do! The Book of Mormon is proof that Christ's church has been restored to the earth today, so read it! Then pray and ask Heavenly Father if it's true - I know he'll tell you it is, because he's the same guy who told me it is! So yeah, that lesson was pretty sweet :)

So, I guess that's all for today... since my time is up for this email :P

Love,

Elder Nielson