March 30th, 2015 - Another week has gone

Hey Everyone!

It looks like another week has gone! I was reminded of a video recently that's pretty neat. The link for it is here: VIDEO It's been a pretty interesting week around here, with some crazy weather and all sorts of other good stuff going on! I got to play tennis for p-day last Monday for a little while, so that was nice, and I also got to have some sweet studies this week. So, a few highlights from this week with some hopefully sweet quotes throughout!

First, on Tuesday we got to have a pretty sweet evening! We had a good class focused on questions and their importance. A sweet quote that we talked a little bit about was: "Some seem to believe that faith and questions are antithetical. Such could not be further from the truth. The Restoration itself was unfolded by the proper and necessary melding of both. The Prophet Joseph Smith had both faith and questions. Indeed, the passage of scripture that led Joseph to the Sacred Grove experience includes both a question and the promise of an answer based on the asker’s faith." It's interesting to think about what makes a question worth asking, or how questions impact that things that we learn or the way that we see things. It ended up being a pretty good discussion with the people that came, and I'd highly encourage those of you who can to watch conference with a question in mind (written down preferably), and see if the Lord doesn't give you an answer to it! We read some sweet scriptures as well, like Mark 1:27, 1 Kings 10:1, and a good chunk from Joseph Smith History (1:8,9,10,13,14,17,19,23,25). On Wednesday we did some service, which was a blast! We got to help a family move some dirt from a huge pile into their garden beds so that the storms that were supposedly coming that evening wouldn't wash it away. It was a pretty fun time, and a very good workout. We did end up getting most of the dirt moved that needed to be, and then the storms did come! During dinner we were at a member's home and we got a call from the assistants saying something about a tornado being possible, and later got an official tornado warning from the weather services people, so that was exciting! Luckily, Edmond didn't get much of anything except some windy rain, but it was still an exciting time. We heard that Moore got hit by a tornado - only an F1 from what we heard, but it was still another tornado ;)

Then came Thursday, which was pretty exciting! We got to do some tracting throughout the day, and had a good dinner that evening and a lesson with a 7 year old who's family recently returned to activity and would like us to go through the lessons before her baptism next month. So, it doesn't count towards any key indicators, but it's still a pretty worthy use of time if you ask me! Friday flew by, with a good district meeting, a fantastic dinner, and some random stuff thrown inbetween. A sweet quote from Elder Cook was particularly noteworthy today. He said: "My intent is not to discourage participation in sports or the use of the Internet or other worthwhile activities young people enjoy. They are the kind of activities that require moderation, balance, and wisdom. When used wisely, they enrich our lives.However, I encourage everyone, young and old, to review goals and objectives and strive to exercise greater discipline. Our daily conduct and choices should be consistent with our goals. We need to rise above rationalizations and distractions. It is especially important to make choices consistent with our covenants to serve Jesus Christ in righteousness. We must not take our eyes off or drop that ball for any reason."

Finally we came to Saturday, when the church released a sweet Easter Video! Check it out here: VIDEO!  If you want to look it up and not use my link, go tohelives.mormon.org where you can watch the super short video and then skip this stuff in parenthesis: (You should really check it out, it's only 2 minutes 27 seconds! You'll probably spend longer reading the rest of this paragraph then if you watched the video and skipped the rest of this paragraph, and you'd probably get more from the video!) Seriously though. watch the video. it's super good! It's all about the sacrifice that Christ made, but also the vital fact that he lives today and what that means for each of us! It's super great... I don't think I can say that enough! I've watched it probably 10 or 15 times already - with many more to come, and it's still good every time!

So, on Saturday we watched the video with as many people as we could find home and willing to watch it with us, so that was a blast. Plus, I got to apply this quote from President Uchtdorf throughout the day: "In these simple words, “Lord, is it I?” lies the beginning of wisdom and the pathway to personal conversion and lasting change." As we were going throughout the day I had plenty of opportunity to reflect and ask myself that question and strive to find the things that I need to work on over the next few months, so that was nice. Sunday came and went with a fervor, as we watched the video with more people, and the other wards in Edmond had a huge boundary change meeting with their stake (oddly enough we're in a different stake than most of the city of Edmond), so that was cool to hear about. It was an example to me of the principle of continuing revelation and how important that is when we want to follow our leaders. President Eyring said: "When Lehi heard Nephi speak those words [I will go and do], the scripture says that “he was exceedingly glad.” He was glad because he knew that Nephi had been blessed with confirming revelation that his father’s dream was a true communication from God. Nephi did not say, “I will go and do what my father told me to do.” Rather he said, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded.” As we strive to follow our leaders it is important, or vital, that we receive revelation from God confirming that it truly is his will that you do what the leader has counseled, but if you go on to read President Eyring's talk he also mentions how it's important to give it a shot if the Lord doesn't give a clear direction to you. Anyway, it was an interesting day since we also received our transfer calls last night that I'm going to be staying here in Edmond 3rd with Elder Fuller for my last transfer :) It was a pretty sweet week! 

I hope you guys have a great week! Watch He Lives! It's a fantastic video, and I'll put the link here again: HE LIVES! Love y'all! 

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson

March 23rd, 2015 - Spring Break?!

Hey Everyone! 

Another week has come and gone and this last week was pretty significant in that it was spring break for all the children here! A vast majority of them went out of town this week - so we didn't get to see very many of the people we typically work with, but it was still a pretty sweet week! Plus, the weather was pretty nice all week so that was a huge benefit. 

So far as other things go, this week was pretty normal. We started out last Monday with a sweet dinner - I had curry for the first time (that I can recall) and it was pretty delicious! Then we got to visit with a pretty cool family. We had a good discussion with them and they showed us this stray cat that had adopted their home and that had thumbs. Yes thumbs. You read that correctly. It literally has like an extra finger that's shorter than the rest on the side of it's paw. It's really odd looking... But anyway, Tuesday flew by with a service opportunity in the morning and then I made some delicious peanut butter chocolate bar things for class and we got to see a couple people throughout the day. With one family we watched this sweet mormon message, check it out:HERE! It's a pretty good reminder of how important it is to be kind to others, especially if you want or expect them to be kind to you. Then we had a pretty good scripture study class that night focused on preparing for conference and in order to that learning more about recognizing the spirit. 

Then came Wednesday - which came and went like a flash - since we started out the day with service at the hope center and it seemed to just disappear after that. We had a pretty good day though, with a good bit of tracting and a fantastic dinner. During my studies this week I started reviewing the October 2014 conference in preparation for conference in a couple weeks and so on Wednesday I read a couple awesome talks one of which had this sweet quote from Elder Robbins:"Trying to please others before pleasing God is inverting the first and second great commandments (see Matthew 22:37–39). It is forgetting which way we face. And yet,we have all made that mistake because of the fear of men." It's important to recognize the order of the two great commandments, but it's also vital to remember to follow and apply both of them - I've heard people say that they love God, but haven't shown love to His children - so how can they possibly love God? It's something I've been thinking about a lot as both of these commandments build on and support each other to helping us become more like Christ. So anyway, on Thursday we had a pretty odd day - though it was pretty typical through the morning since we had weekly planning and studies and all that. But, in the afternoon it started raining - luckily we weren't planning on doing too much tracting today since we had the privilege to go to the temple to do baptisms with Michelle. She was supposed to meet the youth and us down there, since they work down in the city, but they ended up not being able to make it for various reasons and so we got to help out with the baptisms and it was a pretty neat experience! It was good to be able to go to the temple, for it truly is "The House of the Lord"! 

So on Friday we got to spend time with a few awesome folks, but before I get to talking about Friday, I wanted to share this quote from President Uchtdorf that is soooooo true. It's pretty ridiculous how true it is - and it was quite evident to me on Friday. He said: "The Savior has told us in our day, “That which is of God is light; and he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”The more we incline our hearts and minds toward God, the more heavenly light distills upon our souls. And each time we willingly and earnestly seek that light, we indicate to God our readiness to receive more light. Gradually, things that before seemed hazy, dark, and remote become clear, bright, and familiar to us.By the same token, if we remove ourselves from the light of the gospel, our own light begins to dim—not in a day or a week but gradually over time—until we look back and can’t quite understand why we had ever believed the gospel was true. Our previous knowledge might even seem foolish to us because what once was so clear has again become blurred, hazy, and distant." So, on Friday we helped a sister who was baptized a little over a year ago organize her storage unit and it was interesting to see how even though her life has not been easy by any means over the last while, she still clings to the truth that she's found in the gospel and strives to live it as well as she can. Then that evening we got to have dinner with a couple that's not been to church in many years, and it was interesting to see how content they were with their current circumstances. They say they still believe in the church, but through a variety of events decided they wouldn't come back to church. So, it was a pretty interesting day. We watched the new Mormon message with them found: HERE! It's a quote from Elder Perry about the 10 commandments and is super good. 

Finally came Saturday, where people started coming back home from Spring Break so it was pretty good. We talked with a few people about the marked Book of Mormon deal that I mentioned last week and they said they would read through it so that's pretty exciting :) A quick quote from my reading of Elder Andersen's talk: "Why does the Lord allow the evil speaking to chase after the good? One reason is that opposition against the things of God sends seekers of truth to their knees for answers." Then came Sunday and we had a pretty sweet day! We had a very good sacrament meeting, with the speakers assigned to focus on the atonement, so that was nice. One speaker was the chorister, and she included 78 hymn titles in her talk... it was pretty clever and quite enjoyable, while still being very uplifting! Then we got to have dinner with an awesome family in the ward before heading out to try and visit with some people before school starts back up again. For our main deal in the evening with visited with a family that has a daughter turning 8 next month, to review the principles in the missionary lessons with her before she gets baptized and it was super fun. It's always interesting to see just how much these 7 or so year old kids know! I can't imagine that I knew that much when I was 7... but I guess I probably did... oh well! Just goes to show me that by the time you're 8 you're typically pretty ready to get baptized. 

Before I go, I wanted to share with y'all a sweet quote from a talk I read this morning by Elder Klebingat: "Whenever the adversary cannot persuade imperfect yet striving Saints such as you to abandon your belief in a personal and loving God, he employs a vicious campaign to put as much distance as possible between you and God. The adversary knows that faith in Christ—the kind of faith that produces a steady stream of tender mercies and even mighty miracles—goes hand in hand with a personal confidence that you are striving to choose the right. For that reason he will seek access to your heart to tell you lies—lies that Heavenly Father is disappointed in you, that the Atonement is beyond your reach, that there is no point in even trying, that everyone else is better than you, that you are unworthy, and a thousand variations of that same evil theme.
As long as you allow these voices to chisel away at your soul, you can’t approach the throne of God with real confidence. Whatever you do, whatever you pray for, whatever hopes for a miracle you may have, there will always be just enough self-doubt chipping away at your faith—not only your faith in God but also your confidence in yourself. Living the gospel in this manner is no fun, nor is it very healthy. Above all, it is completely unnecessary! The decision to change is yours—and yours alone." I hope y'all have a great week! I've gotta get moving on to other things, but I hope you know that I love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson

March 16th, 2015 - Another week gone!

Hey Everyone!

I can't believe another week has already gone by! It seems like just yesterday that it was my birthday... but that's been 10 days ago already and there isn't much to be done about it now! It seems like time keeps going by faster and faster, but that's probably just an illusion... Luckily we still got some good stuff done this week and had a blast doing it!

Last Monday, we had zone p-day and then we ended up coming back early since Kyle - a young man in the ward got his mission call! They were planning on it coming on Tuesday, which wouldn't have been a huge deal, but it came Monday so we got permission to come back early and be there when he opened it! It was a good time, and there were quite a few people there! He's going to be heading to Roseville, California and he's got until the beginning of July before he leaves! Of particular note on Tuesday we got to have a blast visiting with a few of our investigators throughout the day and ended up having a pretty great day! We had a good time at scripture study class, and focused on the pre-earth life and the fall and had some good discussions with those who were able to make it out. We also reviewed "For the Strength of Youth" with one of our investigators and it was a very good reminder - I'd suggest those of you who haven't checked it out in the recent past go and give it a once-over since it's super good. A few things that stuck out to me were in the work section where it says: "Set high goals for yourself, and be willing to work hard to achieve them. Develop self-discipline, and be dependable. Do your best in your Church callings, schoolwork, employment, and other worthwhile pursuits. Young men should be willing to do what is needed to be prepared to serve a full-time mission. Heavenly Father has given you gifts and talents and knows what you are capable of achieving. Seek His help and guidance as you work to achieve your goals."

After that, it seemed like the week just flew by filled with opportunities to serve and share the gospel with those around us! On Wednesday we did service at the hope center, which was a blast! We had a good time there and then were able to catch a few people in the afternoon before a delicious dinner with the Hoods! They do this cool thing where they have an electric skillet on the table and they put vegetables, meats, and sometimes fish, on it and it's all been marinated in Soy sauce and tastes delicious after being cooked on the skillet for a little while. The catch - you have to help cook it and are only allowed to use chopsticks! It was a good time, and I quite enjoyed it. We also stared using something called a "marked Book of Mormon" where essentially we mark a copy of the Book of Mormon with some key verses circled as shown in the attached dealio. It's pretty neat, but I'm definitely glad that I wasn't the one who took it upon themselves to go through the Book of Mormon and select a set of verses that can be read within a couple hours so that you can get the main ideas in the Book and see how valuable it is as a book of Scripture. So, we shared a couple copies of that with people and it was pretty neat. One of my favorite verses is marked in Alma 37:6-7 where it says: "6 Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. 7 And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls." On Thursday we did quite a bit of tracting in the afternoon, which was good. Tracting is a very humbling experience for those of you who haven't experienced the joys of being a full-time missionary. It involves lots of doors that people don't answer, lots of people who don't even let you say why you're there and just wave you away, a few people who will talk for a minute and be very kind and courteous, and then the select few who are actually interested in hearing your message. But, you'll always be blessed in some way for the effort that you put in according to the attitude you have. I've heard of missions where they require you to tract for a certain number of hours each week and I'm quite glad that ours does not, because it's rather ineffective, but it is quite character building. Then that evening we were graced to be able to attend the pinewood derby and have a blast watching that and socializing with those people who participated and brought friends! It was a good time with some solid refreshments afterward.

On Friday, after district meeting, I had the privilege of doing an exchange with Elder Wilcox who is typically up in Guthrie. He's pretty fresh on the mission - like he's been out less days than I have left - but we had a good time. We visited with one of our investigators who is an older gentleman and marked his copy of the Book of Mormon for him, so that he could read through that synopsis and we ended up having a pretty good discussion while doing so. Then we were called to help Paul, an awesome guy who's been coming to church for a while now but isn't quite ready to be baptized, move a mattress, so that was a blast. Especially since while we were visiting right before that it had started raining... yay for rain! It was fun though, and we got it done without any one getting seriously hurt and with little visible damage to the mattress. After all that we headed to dinner and it was with a family in the ward who makes the most delicious food I've had - and on Friday they had steak with us to celebrate my birthday and also had a cake :) So, it was a good time! After dinner we got to see Michelle and Sandy and talked about Baptisms for the dead with them, since they'll be going with the youth this Thursday. So, Friday was a pretty sweet day! On Saturday we got to help a recently moved in member of the ward hang their kayak to the roof of their garage - which was a pretty intense endeavor. They fed us some delicious breakfast food for lunch, and we got it knocked out - he hung it up himself when they were in Montana, but he hurt his knee a couple weeks ago and asked us to help him get it done so they could get stuff organized. Then we ended up doing some more tracting before a delicious dinner and then we caught a fantastic family and visited with them for a little while in the evening. Then Sunday was good :) It was a pretty solid week, with some interesting things learned throughout it that I'll go ahead and throw in a bullet list here:

• Some forks have a notch taken out of one of the prongs for stabbing olives
• There's 3 different types of air traffic controllers
• 2 Nephi 14-27 is a very good passage of scripture - particularly when you want to talk about the fall of Adam and Eve
• Chopsticks use muscles that I typically don't use in my hands as of late

Those are just a few fun facts that I learned this week! I hope y'all have a great week! Love ya!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson

March 9th, 2015 - BIRTHDAY!!!

Hey Everyone! 

Thanks so much for all those who sent me various forms of birthday wishes! :) I really appreciated the thoughts! It was a pretty fantastic week, crazy weather aside, and this week is looking like it'll be pretty awesome as well! I had a request that I throw my address in my weekly email, so I'll put that here this week and in the future throw it after my name at the bottom:

1700 Kickingbird Rd Apt 1753

Edmond, Ok 73034

So anyway! This week was good, like I mentioned already - mostly because we got some things done! I've been trying to live by an article that I read last week that was super awesome located here: ARTICLE! It focuses on using your time effectively and managing yourself, and it's helped me to realize that as a missionary I've spent a lot of my time simply doing things - or staying busy - rather than trying to just stay busy for the purpose of being busy. It's a pretty good article, I'd highly recommend it. So anyway, on Monday we had an awesome evening with a delicious dinner and a couple good visits making it well worth being out on a mission :) Tuesday flew by as well - with some fun visits, baking cookies for class during lunch, having a delicious dinner and good conversation there, then we had a fun time at scripture study class. We focused some more on the plan of salvation - a topic I greatly enjoy discussing, but we focused on what happens between this life and judgement day and read a bit from Alma 40, a very good chapter. A quick verse that I particularly liked: "3 Behold, he bringeth to pass the resurrection of the dead.But behold, my son, the resurrection is not yet. Now, I unfold unto you a mystery; nevertheless, there are many mysteries which are kept, that no one knoweth them save God himself. But I show unto you one thing which I have inquired diligently of God that I might know—that is concerning the resurrection." I love this verse because he emphasizes the point that when we inquire diligently we can come to know some of the mysteries of God - the Lord loves us enough to keep us in the loop if we're worthy :) It's just a thought that I like. Then on Wednesday we went out to do service at the Hope Center... and learned that it was closed because the schools were all closed for the bad weather that was supposedly coming... so we went home and changed and went out to do stuff. We had lunch with an awesome family in the ward... and then the snow started and we were told that our car was grounded and we weren't supposed to drive anywhere except home if we weren't already there. So... we decided to just spend the day with the family we were with instead of bored at the apartment and they were nice enough to let us :) It turned out to be a good day :) On Thursday we still had some nice snow on the ground in the morning, and luckily we had weekly planning to do so by the time that was all done we were able to get out and do stuff! It was a good day, and we got to watch this quick video that was super awesome - you've possibly seen it before but it's still great:VIDEO! 

Then came Friday - the beloved birthday! It was a pretty great birthday :) We had district meeting, so I got to see a bunch of awesome missionaries and they all proceeded to sing to me - it was pretty terrible but enjoyable in a weird way. Then we had lunch at a delicious mexican place where I got to wear a huge sombrero :) It was fun - there's a picture of it somewhere! Of other particularly noteworthy things on my birthday was the dinner we had! We got to have dinner with an awesome family in the ward and the sister happened to also have her birthday on Friday! It was a great day :) On Saturday we had a pretty fantastic time - except Elder Fuller hurt his leg playing basketball in the morning so we were pretty limited on what we could do. So, for a decent chunk of time I helped a brother in the ward build some bookshelves while he laid on the couch and rested and iced his ankle. The weather was super nice on Saturday so for dinner we had a picnic in the park with Michelle and Sandy and the food was delicious, plus they made a super delicious cake :) So, the birthday celebrations continued! From what people have told me they'll still be continuing all this week... since I didn't tell very many people it was my birthday until after the fact and most of them have now said they're going to make me a cake when we eat dinner with them this week... so we'll see how fat I get! It was pretty great though on Saturday since we got to go to a baptism for a family in the Guthrie ward and it was a super spiritual service :) Then on Sunday it was just a great day! We were going to follow up with one of the families in the ward... and showed up literally at exactly the same time as their home teachers - so we gave them double duty and the home teachers home taught and then we shared a quick message and followed up on the challenge we gave them, so that was pretty funny since we had both set up an appointment and they had us both come at the same time. So, it was a good week! Sorry it's a shorter email than I typically like, but we've gotta get headed!

Hope you have a great week! Love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson

March 2nd, 2015 - MARCH Is HERE?!?!

Hey Everyone!

It looks like March has sneaked up on me again! I can't believe it's already March, especially since there is still white stuff outside. But, the shower of Happy Birthday emails made it pretty clear that y'all were on top of things and weren't caught off guard by the change in month like I was... This week was pretty good though :) We had a great day at church yesterday, with a delicious "break the fast" ward potluck after, plus the snow didn't hinder us working too much! 

On Monday we didn't get a whole lot done missionary work wise, since nobody wanted to drive anywhere once the roads started freezing again, but it was still a nice day! On Tuesday we had to drive up to Stillwater pretty early in the morning for zone conference, which was a blast! We had "Tiwi" boxes installed in our cars as part of a driver accountability program - they're not super restrictive... I think I sped more the day after we got them than I had in many months just seeing how much grace period the box gave us before telling us to "check your speed". But, the actual conference was quite inspiring, with a focus on planning and using the Book of Mormon. A quick quote from President Benson related to the Book of Mormon that was pretty sweet was: "Missionaries need to know how to use the Book of Mormon to arouse mankind’s interest in studying it, and they need to show how it answers the great questions of the soul." It was neat to have President Walkenhorst explain to us how important it is to arouse people's interest in reading the Book of Mormon - not just explain it to them and ask them to read it. Also on Tuesday we had our scripture study class and focused on the Atonement, which was pretty sweet. We spent a bit of time talking about Matthew 11:28-30: " 28 ¶Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." It's a very powerful passage of scripture, especially considered in the context of this sweet Mormon Message: VIDEO! 

On Wednesday we had a pretty sweet day, with the weather being super nice and getting to do service. Plus, we got to visit with a few people, and it was just a super nice day. Thursday flew by, with going out to the middle of nowhere and catching a few people out there and then having some delicious meals it was a great day :) On Friday we had district meeting here in Edmond and then we went out to lunch - during which it started lightly snowing and some super nice guy paid for all 13 of our meals! It was super intense, especially since none of us knew who he was. So, that was an incredible blessing. That evening we got to have dinner with another awesome family, and a lesson with one of our investigators who's been reading faithfully from the Book of Mormon and it was pretty sweet - plus the apple pie was delicious! Saturday came and went pretty quick, mostly because our car was grounded all day so we walked around a little but didn't get a whole ton done. 

Then came Sunday! Sunday was a blast, with a fantastic fast and testimony meeting, that kicked it off just right. The spirit was super strong for most of the meeting and it focused a lot on prayer, which was sweet. There's a sweet video on prayer that I think you'd enjoy, so check it out here: VIDEO! After fast and testimony meeting Michelle taught gospel principles again and did a fantastic job with the lesson on Prayer! There was a sweet quote that said: "A heart without words is more important than words without heart." or something to that effect. It was a good class, and then we had a fun time in Priesthood with the deacons talking about repentance. After all that we had the ward "break the fast" potluck that was filled with delicious food! It was a great time, and was a solid way to end church. After we got home we headed out to the middle of nowhere and finally caught a less active member and got to have a great visit with them! We focused on agency - since he had asked why there were so many different religions in the world if there was only one true one, and the verse in Joshua 24 stuck out to me: "15 And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood,or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." So that was sweet. After that we visited with a few other people and started using the nails object lesson that we recently got the materials for and it's been fun! The scripture we've decided to share with it is 3 Nephi 13:33 which says: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Essentially in the object lesson you have a nail that's been hammered into a block of wood and your objective is to balance 10 other nails on the top of that one without them touching the block of wood or the floor/table. It's pretty fun :) So, it was a good week! 

I hope y'all have a fantastic week this week! I certainly will :) Love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson