-Spencer A. Nielson
Hey Everyone!
This week has just been a blast. I forgot to mention it in my email last week, but transfers were this week and Elder Hansen and I get to stay together here in Ardmore! Anyway, it's been a pretty crazy week with some awesome miracles and some sweet happenings. So, I'm just going to get into it.
On Monday, since it was Labor day and I forgot to talk about it in my last email, we got to spend all day at Confetti, a bounce-house place owned by a family in the ward here and it was a blast. They have a ton of cool bounce-houses and there was lots to do. They're kind of hard to describe in words but they have quite the selection. I think they might have a website with some pictures, but I don't know for sure.
Tuesday we had a couple sweet visits, but we also emailed and had a couple longer drives throughout the day so there wasn't as much time as usual for a typical Tuesday. But, after trying to see the Iser family a lady across the way said that she was heading to work but wanted us to come by on Saturday, which was her day off, as she was heading inside. We weren't entirely sure what to think, but we wrote down that we'd go see the trailer park lady on Saturday at some point, and moved on with the day. That night though we got to see Joshua and somehow ended up talking about fasting with him, and he decided to fast and we decided to fast with him the next day to help with some of the trials he was going through at the time. We then got to follow-up with him on Friday about how it went and he was much happier and said it helped a lot to get him spiritually in tune again with the Lord. It was pretty neat.
I'm listening to this talk right now and they just said: "Either the teacher and the learner are both having a great time, or neither one of them is having a great time."
On Wednesday night after having a couple meetings in the morning and various other administrative things done during the day we had a few awesome visits. First, we got to see Linda and Lonnie briefly and talked about the Book of Mormon and the line on the title page that says "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." After that we got to see the Isers and had a sweet discussion on prayer and faith with them, playing a bit of hangman and also using the "What's in the Box?" Analogy of asking the Lord what you really want to know instead of just questions that are related to it. Then we got to see Oscar and watched this mormon message: Video! It was a pretty sweet night, and the spirit was super strong throughout the night.
Today I wanted to share a couple quotes from talks that I've read this week and apply some of those principles. First, a couple quotes from Elder Ballard:
"Brothers and sisters, can you imagine the impact if family and friends included things they are learning from their personal study of Preach My Gospel in their letters and emails to their full-time missionaries? Can you picture the blessings that will come to families when they know and understand better what their sons and daughters will be studying and teaching on their missions? Can you even begin to fathom the extraordinary outpouring of atoning grace that will be ours, individually and collectively, according to the Savior’s promise to all who bear testimony in the process of inviting souls to come unto Him—and then following up on those invitations?
“Ye are blessed,” the Lord said through the Prophet Joseph Smith, “for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you.”
“For I will forgive you of your sins with this commandment—that you remain steadfast … in bearing testimony to all the world of those things which are communicated unto you.”
If we follow up, the Lord will not let us down. I have seen the unspeakable joy that accompanies testimony-driven inviting and faithful follow-up among members of the Church the world over."
It is impossible for us to fail when we do our best when we are on the Lord’s errand. While the outcome is a result of the exercise of one’s agency, sharing the gospel is our responsibility."
“Ye are blessed,” the Lord said through the Prophet Joseph Smith, “for the testimony which ye have borne is recorded in heaven for the angels to look upon; and they rejoice over you, and your sins are forgiven you.”
“For I will forgive you of your sins with this commandment—that you remain steadfast … in bearing testimony to all the world of those things which are communicated unto you.”
If we follow up, the Lord will not let us down. I have seen the unspeakable joy that accompanies testimony-driven inviting and faithful follow-up among members of the Church the world over."
It is impossible for us to fail when we do our best when we are on the Lord’s errand. While the outcome is a result of the exercise of one’s agency, sharing the gospel is our responsibility."
To apply that real quick, I wanted to share something I've learned from preach my gospel today. There was a quote that struck me today in chapter 4: "Tell the brethren to be humble and faithful and be sure to keep the Spirit of the Lord, that it will lead them aright. Be careful and not turn away the still, small voice; it will teach them what to do and where to go; it will yield the fruits of the kingdom. Tell the brethren to keep their heart open to conviction, so that when the Holy Ghost comes to them their hearts will be ready to receive it. They can tell the Spirit of the Lord from all other spirits—it will whisper peace and joy to their souls; it will take malice, hatred, strife and all evil from their hearts, and their whole desire will be to do good” (quoted in Juvenile Instructor, 19 July 1873, 114)." As I was pondering how to keep the spirit of the Lord with you it reminded me of a section in Chapter 1 of Preach my gospel that talks about ways to teach by the spirit.
Another quote from Elder Ballard real quick: "Brothers and sisters, fear will be replaced with faith and confidence when members and the full-time missionaries kneel in prayer and ask the Lord to bless them with missionary opportunities. Then, we must demonstrate our faith and watch for opportunities to introduce the gospel of Jesus Christ to our Heavenly Father’s children, and surely those opportunities will come. These opportunities will never require a forced or a contrived response. They will flow as a natural result of our love for our brothers and sisters. Just be positive, and those whom you speak with will feel your love. They will never forget that feeling, though the timing may not be right for them to embrace the gospel. That too may change in the future when their circumstances change.
Continuing with the week, Thursday was pretty great as well, we got to have a couple cool visits and also had a sweet dinner with the Nuzmans where we got to talk about prayer for a bit afterward. We discussed the "prayer" section in the Bible Dictionary that says: "We pray in Christ’s name when our mind is the mind of Christ, and our wishes the wishes of Christ—when His words abide in us (John 15:7). We then ask for things it is possible for God to grant. Many prayers remain unanswered because they are not in Christ’s name at all; they in no way represent His mind but spring out of the selfishness of man’s heart." We had a pretty good discussion related to that, and it was a very clear reminder to me personally that prayers are so vital. Brother Nuzman made a point that whenever we say "Amen" after someone prays we're agreeing to and basically saying that prayer along with the person so it's important to actually listen to what is being said.
In the talk they shared this quote: "Effective teaching is the essence of leadership in the church. Eternal life will come only as men and women are taught with such effectiveness that they will change their lives. They cannot be coerced, they must be led." - President Hinckley
Friday was intense. I decided this day that I wanted to memorize a scripture most everyday of the week - or at least see if I could - and so today I picked Mosiah 2:22 which says: "And behold, all that he requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you." As I was pondering and memorizing that scripture throughout the day we had some pretty sweet miracles. First off, we got to visit with and then teach Heather and John, and awesome couple that we met a couple weeks ago but hadn't actually gotten to really visit with as of yet. The discussion was super spiritual as we discussed the restoration and the truths that have been restored and how the Book of Mormon is evidence of that. They were quite receptive, and actually know quite a few members of the ward already it seems. Later that night, after dinner with the Laws - an awesome family - we got to see Joshua as mentioned before. So, that was a pretty awesome day.
Saturday was awesome! I decided today that I'd focus on memorizing 2 Nephi 25:23,26 which says: "For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do. And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." In the morning, while we were going over the ward roster and updating records we listened to a talk called "The Missionary Next Door" that's pretty good. The speaker talks about two different types of conversion - social and spiritual, and makes it clear that the social conversion is the responsibility of the members while the spiritual conversion is the responsibility of the full-time missionaries. Then we went out to lunch with Linda and Lonnie to the corner cafe and then visited with them a little bit afterward... and then it started raining... really hard... so when we were biking home to get our rain jackets, we got totally soaked. It was the best! It's always good to have a nice rainfall, and it was super nice that day since it was pretty warm before hand. Anyway, we later got to meet and visit with Reggie and Kristine - Kristine was the trailer park lady mentioned that we saw on Tuesday. They're super awesome, and we even though we didn't have as much time as we'd like we got to talk about the Book of Mormon and they were super interested. Then we got to see the Lords family and did the restoration cups lesson with them, and it was pretty sweet.
Anyway, Sunday was pretty sweet, Church was awesome and then we got to have an awesome dinner and discussion with the Fenton Family, before getting to see Connie and give her the sacrament and it reminded me of the days back home where we were asked to give the sacrament to people who were homebound and unable to come out to sacrament meeting. It was a wonderful experience and a fantastic way to spend some time on Sunday. During fast and testimony meeting, one member said this fantastic line "I'm about as nervous as a fly in a spiderweb." and then preceded to share a fantastic testimony about the truthfulness and blessings he's received from the Gospel.
That's about all I got time for today, but know that I love you! I'm glad to be here on a mission in Oklahoma, and super stoked to get to stay in Ardmore for another transfer! It's been a fantastic week, and I wish that I could share more of the miracles with you!
'Til Next Time,
Elder Jordan Nielson
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