January 27th, 2014 - January's over?!?

Hey Everyone!

Sorry for not sending out an email last week! It was a pretty crazy week, as a series of events led to me being moved to Choctaw. So, my new address is:

20804 NE 10th Apt #C

Harrah, OK 73045

Anyway, this week has been awesome, so I'm not even going to bother trying to cover both this week and last week, even though last week was pretty neat.

I also don't have much email time here in Choctaw (we pretty much get an hour flat), so we're going to just focus on a couple noteworthy things after I tell y'all about the awesome studies I've had! A scripture I really liked that I came across this week is Jacob 4:6-7, which talks of the importance of prophets, but also mentions how that leads us to have faith and hope, so that was pretty neat. Another scripture that hit me pretty hard this week is D&C 6:22-24, as you truly can't have any greater witness than from God. A few other scriptures I came across were:

• 1 Nephi 6:4-5
• Matthew 28:19
• D&C 88:73
• Helaman 5:18
• 1 Corinthians 2:12-14
• Luke 24:46-47
• Mosiah 18:9
• John 21:15-17
• D&C 6:7
• D&C 6:29-31

Then I also read a talk about conversion, that I think y'all should check out if you have a minute:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2013/10/be-ye-converted?lang=eng

Anyway, onto this week! All the Elders here in Choctaw got to speak yesterday, along with a kid who leaves for his mission to Idaho on the 5th of February. It was pretty good, and it seemed like most people were actually listening as we spoke, so that was good ;) Aside from that, we've had a couple noteworthy experiences this week, so if y'all could pray for Elizabeth, Clark, Larry, and Tom I'd appreciate it. You should pray for Elizabeth because we started teaching her this week, and she's preparing to get baptized on March 8th if all goes well! Clark, Larry, and Tom are all pretty awesome and they've been working with them for some time. we saw Larry on Saturday and each week we get to help him move hay and feed around for his horses, and this week we also got to help him put up a tarp before we taught him about the plan of Salvation - which was awesome. Larry is getting ready to be baptized on May 10th (a ways away, but that's what we agreed on), and Clark and Tom are hopefully coming to church this next week so they definitely need some prayers. Those are pretty much the major noteworthy events of this week, and we've got some rocking plans for the next few days!

I hope y'all have a fantastic week, I love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson 

January 13th, 2014 - Another week has gone!

Hey Everyone!

It's already been another week and here is another Monday! Can you believe it?!? This week was pretty average... not much of note to discuss today, which is totally alright! This week we did a ton of service, and had a pretty noteworthy Saturday, so I'll discuss a little bit about those after some spiritual thoughts ;)

For this week, some scriptures that I particularly enjoyed are Ether 12:4 and Matthew 11:28-30, as they talk about how much we really are dependent upon our belief in Christ to get us through the tough times. A cool talk that goes along with that is "You Can Do it Now!" By President Uchtdorf, so you should all click that link and either read or watch it ;) After you're done with that, another scripture from this week was 1 Nephi 3 and 4, as I studied those chapters this week with a focus on agency it helped me to realize how much people really do have the ability to choose whatever they want. Laman and Lemuel saw an angel, and still didn't do what they were supposed to, and when they did they did it grudglingly. Another person though who had his agency was Laban, who kicked Laman out and tried to kill him, rejected their offer to buy the plates and instead stole their property, and went out drinking ;)

Anyway, this week as part of our tons of service we helped 2 people move, and spent a few hours helping a member put one of those metal sheds together.... I wouldn't ever recommend getting one of those ;) Anyway, service is pretty fun, especially since it lets us get out of our suits in this beautiful weather we've had the last couple days! 

The noteworthy day this week was definitely Saturday, as we were super busy, and running late basically all day. Our Saturdays generally start out with breakfast on post, fed to us by the branch presidency from Ft. Sill, so that was pretty tasty. Then we went back and did our studies before going to have lunch at some Mexican grill with a brother from the ward. By that point we were already running 20 minutes late to our appointment, which went super well (and they ended up coming to church!), with a neat couple we've been visiting. After our awesome member dropped us off we headed to our next appointment - and by this point we're about an hour late... - with a family that we had knocked into while looking for a member (who we figured had moved away since someone else was living at the address listed for them). But... to our surprise the member we were looking for was there, as her daughter was the person we had found living there! It was super neat, as her daughter isn't a member and her daughter's husband is also interested. We taught a neat lesson, and then at the end of it we all ate some pizza that they had waiting prepared for our visit (if you're counting that's 3 meals that we've been fed). After that we were about half an hour late to our next appointment - a dinner one with a member family - and so we went and ate even more food! Luckily our evening wasn't as jam packed, but it was a super good and filling day! 

Well that's all for this week! Love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson

January 6th, 2014 - Happy New Year!!

Hey Everyone!

It's been another week already, and what an interesting week it was! I no longer get to write 2013 on anything, so that's been an interesting change, along with us staying crazy busy! Sadly I don't have much time this week as we have a zone p-day, so this email might be a bit shorter than y'all are used to me writing ;)

First off though, I'd like to share a few spiritual thoughts that I've had this week while studying, mostly so I don't forget to ;) One of the coolest chapters I've read this week was 3 Nephi 23, where Christ talks about the scriptures and how important they are. I found it pretty interesting how Christ commanded them to make sure that their records were complete, especially when it came to prophecies and their fulfillment. It helped remind me of how important it is for us to keep a journal, especially of the times that the spirit really speaks to us that we might remember those in our times of need. Another chapter I read this week was 2 Nephi 27, which is one of the Isaiah chapters. One of the things that struck me about it was how much it clearly talks about what will happen with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. I also particularly liked verse 35, and how it points out that those who murmur are generally just misunderstanding something or why something is happening. 

One other thought before I move on to my week - There's this neat TALK by Elder Scott from this last conference that I enjoyed this week, so y'all should check it out.

Alrighty, onto a quick overview of my week! Most days this week were pretty average - trying to see people, and getting to see a couple of them, but one day that was particularly exciting/eventful was the first day of the new year! With new year's eve though we weren't allowed to be out past 8 pretty much because after that point people were starting to get together with family and prepare to ring in the new year, so we ended up going to bed pretty early that day. The next day we didn't have much planned, as we weren't sure really who would be available that day. So, we spent a bit of time tracting, and it was probably one of the most productive tracting hours we've ever had - we knocked most of a block, and almost everyone was home and about half of those set up a time to come back! It was pretty neat, especially since earlier that day hadn't gone as well as it could have - one of our investigators' house pretty well smelt of weed, and we found out that one guy we were looking for was actually in jail... so that was eventful. That night a companionship from a small town nearby ended up in the hospital, and we got to go find them some dinner, which was pretty eventful as some places were closed for new years, or closed early. 

Aside from that reasonably eventful day, there wasn't much else of note that happened this week. That plus the fact I've gotta be done with this email means that's all for this week! Love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson