August 25th, 2014

Hey Everyone!

This week was a pretty average week as a missionary... we actually got to stay in our area and work all week, and saw some pretty awesome miracles in the process. I've had some fun studies on God's plan of Happiness for us, and some sweet reads in the Book of Mormon, plus a couple cool talks that I've gotten to read lately. So, it's been a pretty good week!

First off, a cool story from yesterday! Our Bishop shared an awesome experience/story with us yesterday when a couple that used to work for him - Charles & Tracy - came to church up here after Bishop went and gave her mother, a blessing (none of them are members of the church, as of yet). When we talked to Bishop before sacrament asking who they were he mentioned that they were Wicken and that they probably would stay that way since they don't really believe in Christ, but that he's been working with them for some time now. Then, when we talked to him before 3rd hour started he said that they had talked to him during 2nd hour and told him they had decided to become members of the church and so he talked with them about that. It was super exciting! Sadly they live in San Antonio, but it was still a pretty sweet experience.

Anyway, in my studies this week I've focused a lot on the plan of Salvation and Faith, reading a few awesome talks and having quite a few of the chapters I've read in the Book of Mormon this week talk about them. So, some talks/sections of Preach my Gospel/Chapters in the Book of Mormon I've liked this week:

• 1 Nephi 14
• 1 Nephi 17
• 2 Nephi 2
• 2 Nephi 4
• PMG: Plan of Salvation
• But if Not...
• Our Strengths can Become our Downfall
• The Great Plan of Happiness

Some short highlights of this week were that there was a funeral that we sang at for Brother Gooden, we had an awesome day on Saturday getting to go out with a couple members to some awesome people, and then yesterday at church there were quite a few people there! It was a pretty awesome week, sorry for the shorter email though, such is life these days in the mission though! Love y'all! Have a fantastic week!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan NIelson

August 18th, 2014 - 9 months left?!?

Hey Everyone! 

One of the kind Elders I serve around reminded me a couple days ago that I only have single digit months left on my mission... it was so very kind of him! But, somehow I've only got 9 short months left out here to have fun serving the Lord. Oh well... such is life. We've had some pretty cool experiences this week, so my list of things to put in this letter is longer than what I'll probably actually get to, but oh well. We got to have a zone meeting last monday, and then went up to the temple last Tuesday. That plus all the service we did made it seem like all we did this week was service, drive, plan, and study! But, we did have a couple cool experiences with people that I might get to share.

Anyway, this week in my studies I focused mainly on the Book of Mormon and also spent some time in Preach my gospel. A couple PMG quotes that struck me real quick:

“I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our full potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life.”
–Elder M. Russell Ballard

President Gordon B. Hinckley taught: “So many of us look upon missionary work as simply tracting. Everyone who is familiar with this work knows there is a better way. That way is through the members of the Church. Whenever there is a member who introduces an investigator, there is an immediate support system. The member bears testimony of the truth of the work. He is anxious for the happiness of his investigator friend. He becomes excited as that friend makes progress in learning the gospel.

“The full-time missionaries may do the actual teaching, but the member, wherever possible, will back up that teaching with the offering of his home to carry on this missionary service. He will bear sincere testimony of the divinity of the work. He will be there to answer questions when the missionaries are not around. He will be a friend to the convert who is making a big and often difficult change. … The process of bringing new people into the Church is not the responsibility alone of the missionaries. They succeed best when members become the source from which new investigators are found” (Ensign, May 1999, 105–6).

As we've tried to apply those two quotes throughout this week, it's definitely help us put in perspective the things that are really worth our time to reach our goals that we set. Also this week I've spent some time in the following places:

• Helaman 3-5
• 3:35
• 4:12-13
• 5:9-12,30
• Jacob 1,4,6,7
• 1:17,19
• 4:11-13
• 6:6-7
• 7:10-11
• Enos
• 1 Nephi 1-10
• 2:12
• 4:3
• 7:12
• 8:37
• 10:17-19
• "Prayers and Answers"

That's the short version of what I studied this week... it'd be nice if we had time for me to write a longer version, but such is life. Anyway, aside from the temple and the zone p-day we had last week some other highlights were helping a member put up hay, helping another member start her family history work, and some incredibly awesome dinner appointments. But, I sadly don't have time to write about all those :( So, I hope y'all have an awesome week! Love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson

August 11th, 2014 - Service Rocks!

Hey Everyone!

This week has been pretty entertaining, with a good sprinkling of service along with all our other missionary efforts. There have been some cool miracles, and lots of entertaining events, with some particularly enjoyable studies. First from my studies this week, I spent quite a bit of time in Preach my Gospel Chapters 1 and 9 - our purpose and finding people. The section in Chapter 1 titled "The Gospel of Jesus Christ" struck me this week, and a particular quote made me think quite a bit. It says:

"Individuals and families begin to follow Christ as they exercise faith in Himand repent of their sins. They receive a remission of sins through baptismand by receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost from one who has authority fromGod to perform these ordinances. They then endure to the end, or, in otherwords, they continue throughout their lives in exercising faith in Jesus Christ,repenting, and renewing the covenants they have made. These are not juststeps that they experience once in their lives; rather, when repeatedthroughout life these principles become an increasingly rewarding pattern ofliving. In fact, it is the only way of living that will bring peace ofconscience and enable Heavenly Father’s children to return to live inHis presence."

As I was thinking about that paragraph and studying other things, I found a chapter in Moses particularly enjoyable - it's chapter 6, particularly verses 26-68 where Enoch is called to preach to the people of his day. Verse 58 reminded me of this quote from preach my gospel as it is through these steps, outlined in Moses 6:58 and the quote, that we're able to utilize Christ's atonement in our lives.

Anyway, that was one thing that I focused a lot of study time on this week, though I also had some things in the rest of my studies I wanted to share:

• Alma 16:13-15
• Alma 18:39
• Alma 19:14
• Alma 27:7-11
• Alma 34:33-34
• D&C 33:8-10
• D&C 33:15-16
• D&C 35:5-6
• Plus this article in this month's Ensign that was related to my studies:ARTICLE!

Alright, that's all I got for studies this week, so a couple quick miracles! First, last Monday we were able to visit with Ricky and it was an awesome experience. When we got there we weren't entirely sure what to do, but we felt like we should read from the Book of Mormon with him in 2 Nephi 31, sadly Jessica had to leave before we really got started with that, but the spirit was super strong as we were reading and Ricky was super committed by the time we left to do what he needs to in order to follow the example of Christ - reading the scriptures, praying, and coming to church in order to strengthen his faith, change, and prepare to be baptized.
Another cool miracle was on tuesday when we got to visit with Chris. We talked about all sorts of stuff, but eventually we got around to watching the Daily Bread Mormon Messages (check them out here), and it turned out to be a pretty spiritual experience.
The other highlights of the week were service related, when we got to help a member work on his building (the same one we've helped a couple times before), and he's actually making progress! It's slow, but steady, which is good. Then we had a day of service on Saturday, helping three families with various projects - building a fence, fixing up a shed, moving tool boxes, loading a u-haul truck, and just having a blast before getting to go to the stake general priesthood meeting on Saturday night. It was a pretty fun week, but that's about all I got.
Have a fantastic week! Love y'all!
'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson

August 4th, 2014 - August has arrived!

Hey Everyone!

August has come already, and here in Oklahoma we're enjoying the unusually cool temperatures, and having a blast! We've had some awesome people we've gotten to visit with this week, some incredible miracles, less time on bikes, and just a fantastic time at church, so it was a pretty sweet week.

To start off, last Monday we got to have Family Home Evening with one of the families in the ward and it was just a blast. We talked about the restoration using the cups activity and it was neat to see the things that their kids knew! After that we got to play around in the gym they own for a few minutes and it got pretty intense by the time we left, so that was a blast.

Then on Tuesday we got to go out with the Bishop of our ward here and it was just an incredible time. I know Bishops are busy people and all... but they're super helpful in missionary work, especially since we got to visit with Connie, who just got baptized a couple weeks ago. She told us on Saturday that she really enjoyed having Bishop over, and it was just a fantastic night all around. We also got to see Joshua with Bishop and talked about how important it is to keep the commandments of God, regardless of what else is happening and it was just a short, very spiritual time that we all enjoyed.

The next highlight that I've got written down was on Wednesday when we got to help demolish some more stuff for Brother Thigpin, which reminded me that I'm still scared of heights, but also was just an enjoyable time to hit stuff with a hammer and not care what happened to it. You might have to try it sometime when you're frustrated, sledge hammers work especially well by the way. Anyway, that afternoon we got to go out with a member and visit Andrea and we read Alma 18 with her, which is probably one of my favorite chapters showing a very effective way to help someone come closer to Christ.

My next highlight from this week is on Saturday when we got to visit with Oscar, was baptized about a year ago, and his son Oscar, who isn't baptized yet, and it was just a super awesome time. Little Oscar (the son) asked about joining the military and what the church taught about that, so we shared part of Alma 48, verses 14-17 - Check them out if you have that same question. Also on Saturday we got to visit with Matthew, one of our awesome investigators, and we had a super spiritual visit with him. It was possibly the most spiritual discussion about the plan of Salvation I've had yet on my mission. He asked us when we got there about the three degrees of Glory, since he was a little confused about that and we felt that in order for that to make sense you have to go through the entire plan first (since it's hard to understand the end without the beginning). So, at multiple points throughout the discussion the spirit strongly testified to all of us (Matthew, Elder Hansen, and Myself) that what we were talking about was true. Then, it was just like 10 times stronger when we were talking about the kingdoms of Glory, and it was just super awesome. So, while I'm on the topic of spiritual things that happened, I'll go ahead and throw down my list of scriptures that I liked this week:

• 3 Nephi 22:8,10
• 3 Nephi 23:1-2
• 3 Nephi 23:14 -> Luke 24:27 (Road to Emmaus Story)
• 2 Nephi 31: 3
• Mormon 9:21

Well, that's all I got for this week! I hope y'all have a fantastic week! Love y'all!
'Til Next Time,
Elder Jordan Nielson