May 31st, 2015 - Falling Behind already...?!?

Hey Everyone!

It's already the end of May... and I'm clearly falling behind in my goals with this blog, and various other things. For one thing, I'm hoping from here on out to not let an entire week pass without posting... Ideally I'd like to post twice a week, one being more focused on what I've been up to, the other being more focused on less temporal things - experiences from the mission that have a particular application, things I've been studying, or any other uplifting thing I end up writing about.

So, over the last 9 days the month of May has disappeared, and it looks like June is looming closely - and with it my flight to Utah on the 8th. So, this last week has been a blast! I've been helping my grandpa and dad work on a roofing project throughout the week, and I have confirmed the sad truth that I'm scared of heights. I can't handle being up on the roof well enough to move around quickly up there, so I've been the ground guy - handing tools us, cleaning up debris, or throwing up waters as needed. I've also undertaken projects cleaning my room and attempting to clean out the garage - which has been going surprisingly well. My dad's been helping me to clean out the garage and go through all the stuff in there, It's been an interesting experience finding the treasures that have been buried in that garage for years - like a couple of knives that I made/put together at scout camp over 5 years ago, a bunch of books, a good deal of random outdated electronic equipment, and tons of other random stuff.

Aside from all those projects - which have consumed a majority of my time - I've been trying to spend some time with the Elders in this area whenever possible. I've gone out and done service for an older sister with them - I cleaned out her gutters while they washed her car. I've also gone out with them to a few visits, and then today I attended the spanish group sacrament meeting with them to make sure they had a sufficient number of priesthood there so that they were okay :) I had a good time at that, and it was quite interesting to see where my Spanish was at... I batted about 20% understanding with the speakers/hymns, and had a very spiritual experience during the meeting that helped remind me why it's so important to share the gospel - even if it's difficult. So, how are you doing with living and sharing the gospel? You can find a pretty solid self-check in Alma chapter 5 :) I listened to it this week, and was struck by verse 14 which says: "And now behold, I ask of you, my brethren of the church, have ye spiritually been born of God? Have ye received his image in your countenances? Have ye experienced this mighty change in your hearts?"

Also of note this week, I played my first round of golf! Kind of. The scouts had a super fun golf tournament to raise money for summer camp, and I finally gave in and played with my dad and Spencer! It was a blast, partially because my dad is pretty great at golf, partially because the scouts made it pretty light-hearted and fun, and also because golf is a pretty decent stress reliever. So, that was a pretty solid event! I don't know if I'd put a ton of time into getting good at golf, but it was a good event for a great cause and I was glad to be able to participate!

Pictures from the golf tournament (thanks Bright House for the sponsorship!):

 



Then again... I also watched my first feature length movie since coming home - Guardians of the Galaxy. It was pretty good, and I enjoyed being able to relax for a couple hours and be entertained, though there were a few points where my missionary mindset kicked in and I got a little antsy after sitting for so long. But, we watched the movie as a family and had a pretty good time together since none of us had seen the entire movie to really know what was going on towards the beginning. So, that was pretty awesome!

I hope y'all are having a great week!

'Til Next Time,
Jordan

Updated! - May 22, 2015

Hey Folks!

So, I took some time today to update my blog's look - so check it out! I also changed the url back to: jordanatbyu.blogspot.com

So, if you try to use the old one it probably won't work - or if it does you'll likely not end up where you wanted to be, which is here! So, you should just use that one. There's a way to make it so that you get an update whenever I make a new post... but I'm not entirely sure how, so if you know make a comment so I can do know :)

Anyway, the last few days have been pretty sweet! I got to spend some time yesterday with my grandmother, who is absolutely awesome! We had a blast doing some genealogy on familysearch.org - which if you've never checked out you should! It's totally free, and we were able to find out more about her biological great-grandfather, who she never met since he passed away from Tuberculosis many years before she was born - in 1910. It was a pretty cool experience, and I'd highly recommend that those of you who don't know much about your ancestors give it a go! You can find out all sorts of things just by doing a few simple searches - typically - like I learned that one of my paternal great-grandmothers was born in Alabama - but her husband was born in New York - how they met I still haven't learned since I'll have to ask my grandmother, but it's definitely fascinating stuff! I also got to play with my cousins a bit, and they've grown so much over the last 2/3 years while I've been away on my mission and in college! It was pretty funny since the littlest one is only a bit older than 2, she had no idea who I was when I got home, and still wouldn't give me a hug yesterday!

 So, throwback to Wednesday when I went up to Winter Park High School with Spencer - after going to seminary with him as well. I definitely do not long for the days of high school again, since going to seminary was rough before when we only lived 15 minutes away... now that we live a half hour or so, it's even more difficult to make it there by 6 - as shown by the fact that Spencer has been late probably 90% of this semester. So, we eventually made it there and had a fantastic lesson focused on Hastening the Work of Salvation... as you probably guessed I got asked quite a few questions, but that's what I was expecting when the topic was first announced. At length we made it to school, and I went and was able to spend time with the fantastic choir directors! It was a blast, and we had a good time catching up and reminiscing. Eventually school ended, and since it was Wednesday it was even shorter than typical! So, Spencer's last day of high school had come to a close, at last!

But alas, I've gotta get a move on, so that's all I've got today! I hope you have a great week :)

'Til Next Time,
Jordan

May 18-20th, 2015 - I'm Home!!!

Hey Everyone!

I'm home now! It's great to be back in Orlando, at least for the time being, and it's been a blast getting to see my family for the last few days! I'll be taking time over the next few days to put up the weekly emails that Spencer didn't get a chance to put up while I was gone, and I'm not sure but I imagine they'll probably end up making this post rarely seen, but that's alright! It was a fantastic two years, and it went by sooo quickly I still can't quite believe it's over! But alas, life goes on even when we don't want it to. So, On to the weekly letters! I hope you enjoy being able to read through them!


Due to some silly people using robots to post things on their blogs, it's become ineffective for me to continue posting the weekly letters, for now. I'll try again tomorrow and see if I can finish it :) I hope y'all have a great day!


So, I guess I'll give y'all an update of what I've been up to since I got home, since it's almost been a week already! So, since my last email that will end up on here a lot has happened. For one thing, I had my final few days as a full-time missionary, which were an absolute blast! We saw a ton of people on Tuesday, plus I had to pack which took up way too much people-seeing time. Eventually Wednesday came, and it was time to head down to Moore for transfers! We got to go down with Kyle, which was a blast - plus, we got donuts on the way down which made a great time slightly better! Anyway, we eventually got down to transfers and I had a good time seeing so many missionaries I knew and saying good bye to them, but there were a ton more missionaries I didn't know - especially when compared to the ones I did. So, I heard throughout my mission that was a sign that you're dying soon and it was definitely true for me! At length we headed down to the mission home for lunch before heading to do a temple session, and then have a Q&A with the temple President! Apparently no other temple does that - so far as we know - so it was super neat. A lot of the questions that were asked he essentially responded that we need to go study it out for ourselves, which is probably because of the principle Alma teaches in chapter 12 verses 9-11: " 9 And now Alma began to expound these things unto him, saying: It is given unto many to know the mysteries of God; nevertheless they are laid under a strict command that they shall not impart only according to the portion of his word which he doth grant unto the children of men, according to the heed and diligence which they give unto him.10 And therefore, he that will harden his heart, the same receiveth the lesser portion of the word; and he that will not harden his heart, to him is given the greater portion of the word, until it is given unto him to know the mysteries of God until he know them in full.11 And they that will harden their hearts, to them is given the lesser portion of the word until they know nothing concerning his mysteries; and then they are taken captive by the devil, and led by his will down to destruction. Now this is what is meant by the chains of hell." So, forgive me for not going into what we talked about with him, but that's a topic for a more spiritually minded conversation than what I've got going here. After we were done at the temple we went out to Porto Fino in the city since our group was too large to fit in the mission home as seen in this picture:

So, we had a pretty solid night after that, and then Thursday was plane day! I flew to Atlanta with Elder Toiava in the morning, and then headed to my flight for Orlando! I got to the airport and was able to see a good deal of my family members! This picture pretty much sums up how happy they were to see me:

It was a fantastic time, and then eventually we headed out and my step mom made some delicious empanadas, while my dad made milanesa. It was a super tasty meal, and then I went to meet with my stake President and was officially released as a full-time missionary. President Munns really emphasized the important fact that even though I'm being released as a full-time proselyting missionary, I still have many responsibilities as a member missionary - which is now going to be much more of a focus than it was before my mission. That evening disappeared to the unpacking monster, though I did get to play tennis with Spencer! He beat me... but we're going to attribute that to my lack of sleep and general tiredness. 

At length Friday came... and it was my first full day as a regular person - or at least no longer as a full-time missionary. I spent the majority of the day with my dad - since he took of work, so that was a good time. Plus, in the late afternoon/evening we got to go to my grandma's house and had a great time there with my cousins! They're all so big now it's absolutely insane! On Saturday we had a ward picnic which was an absolute blast! I met a bunch of the ward members, and we had a good time with a huge soccer game - where the Aaronic Priesthood boys faced the Melchizedek priesthood men! IT was a good time, and the men eventually ended up winning 6-2, so that made it even better! After that we ended up coming home to chill and hang out as a family for the most part of the rest of the day. 

Eventually Sunday arrived - bright and early, since we had to wake up around 6:15 in order to make it so that I could report to the High Council at 7:15... Spencer took me, and it was a pretty sweet experience though so I guess it was worth the effort :) After that I went home and finished up my preparations for my homecoming talk - planning to talk about one of a few topics, and I had a couple different scripture chains I thought of using, and since you're probably curious I'll throw them up here: (If you're not... then skip it. Nobody said you had to read the entire thing!)

• 2 Nephi 4:15-16 > Moses 6:59 > John 5:39 > John 6:15,24,28-29,38,51,60-61,66-69 > 2 Timothy 4:2-3 > Philippians 4:8 > 2 Nephi 4:16
• 2 Nephi 4:19, 34 > Proverbs 3:5-6 > Alma 37:37 > D&C 11:12-14 > Ether 12:4 > Moroni 7:40 > 1 Corinthians 13:13, 1-3 > 1 Timothy 6:17-19
• 2 Nephi 2:5-8, 10, 13, 25-26 > Galatians 3:2> Mosiah 13:27-31 > 3 Nephi 12:19-20 > D&C 88:21-22 > D&C 130:20-21 > Alma 34:8-17

So, for those of you who weren't interested enough to go through one of the chains (since I obviously only had time in a sacrament meeting talk to use one) - essentially they all focused on the Atonement and/or the scriptures and their importance. But alas, eventually sacrament meeting arrived and when it came time for my talk I ended up talking about something totally different - focusing on a talk from President Eyring in April 2007 titled: "This Day" - it's super awesome, and you should totally check it out if you have a minute... I'll even throw a link :HERE!

At length we catch up to the present... but time keeps on slipping into the future and it turns out that another day has passed before I've actually finished this post. So, I guess I'll close up here and throw it to the world! I'd love to hear any comments you might have, and I'll do my best to include any suggested topics in future blog posts!

'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson

May 11th, 2015 - And so it begins...

Hey Everyone!

Well. Here it is. Already. My last time sending a giant email like this for a little while. I'll hopefully keep up with my blog when I get home, so I'll likely send out a link to y'all at some point, but this will be my last giant email as a full (part)-time missionary - at least for now. It's been a fantastic week! The ward here is absolutely fantastic, and I'm very sad to be leaving, but like it says in Ecclesiastes, "1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
 2 A time to be born, and a time to die;"

So, anyway, this week was pretty sweet! It started off great with a fantastic evening for Cinco de Mayo - the member that took us to dinner took us to a mexican place that was pretty tasty! Then on Wednesday we got to have more Mexican food for dinner and I ordered something different and it was quite delicious! We also had a good deal of thunderstorms and severe weather this week, starting on Wednesday so that was pretty exciting. They're mostly abated now, but it's been fun to deal with! Luckily, we didn't get hit with any of the tornadoes or really affected by the flooding that lots of other areas had to deal with, so that was nice. But, we've been focusing on serving the members and helping them branch out and get the things that they feel are keeping them from sharing the gospel out of the way - and for most of them they feel it's time. So, we've been striving to serve them and while we do so we've tried to talk with them about ways they can share the gospel in what they already do each day instead of trying to go out of their way to do it. Hopefully it catches on, but the real core of it is to be a good example, and answer questions as they come and invite people to act as often as possible. We've had a ton of meals this week, and those have definitely been the highlight - as that's also when we've gotten to visit with a bunch of awesome people! We've only eaten at our apartment for like 7 meals in the last 7 days, so that's not too bad. 

Another cool thing about this week, was that I got to listen to the Devotional from last sunday again - and it was even better the second time! Here's a link to it, since it's super awesome: #LDSDEVO! It goes along perfectly with the theme I've seen for this week - faith - since it seems like a lot of people have a difficult time determining if they lack faith or not, and tend to lean towards the end of lacking faith. I'm not sure why, but it seems like so many people want to just start off with a perfect knowledge, but like Elder Robbins says, it's important to take the small steps and continually enduring and act according to the knowledge that you do have.

But alas, one of the reasons that I still wanted to email today, was to go through a lesson or two that I've learned on my mission, so I'm going to get on my soapbox now and I hope you endure to the end of my last email to the group!

So, lesson one: The Atonement is the Most Important Thing!  The Mission tour we had last week focused on this principle for a solid hour or two, and it was fantastic. I've seen the atonement work so many times on my mission in myself and in others that it's been one of my favorite parts of the experience. One time in particular sticks out to me - when Connie was baptized almost a year ago, and she was strengthened so that she could endure that event. It was fantastic to see her health improve to the point where she could be baptized, and it was obviously not because the problems were going away, but because she knew how important that event was and the Lord helped her to do it. But, for the sake of time I'm not going to go into any of the countless other experiences, I'll leave this one with a scripture though: Alma 7:7 "For behold, I say unto you there be many things toc ome; and behold, there is one thing which is of more importance than they all—for behold, the time is not far distant that the Redeemer liveth and cometh among his people."

The other major lesson I've learned focuses on attitude and happiness - "Attitude is everything and happiness is the best attitude to choose!" Is a quote that I can't recall the source of but has been something that has proven so true throughout my mission. The times that I've chosen to be happy have been the greatest times - and they've also been totally irrelevant of the things that have been happening around me. Happiness is definitely a choice, and it's been interesting to see the wide ranging consequences of it.

But, I've gotta get a move on! I hope you have an excellent week and I'll be seeing some of you on Thursday!

Love y'all!

'Til Next Time (hopefully it's soon!),

Elder Jordan Nielson

May 5th, 2015 - May is here!

Hey Everyone!

I hope your week has been awesome! Mine's been pretty dang sweet, with a great meeting yesterday pushing our preparation day to today! Plus, it's been a pretty awesome week in general - with the best weather I could ask for! Also, for those of you who didn't get to watch the devotional on Sunday I'd highly recommend it! It's fantastic, and here's a link to it: #LDSDEVO!

So, we don't have a whole ton of time to email, but real quick overview of the awesomeness of the week! First off, last Monday - the 27th - we went and toured the Masonic Temple in Guthrie! It's huge, and it was a blast getting to go see the beautiful building again (I'd gone a few months ago, but the rest of the group hadn't been). We've had some awesome dinners this week, but I sadly don't have time to talk about much since we've gotta get going to a lunch appointment pretty quick here. But, we had a good class last Tuesday focused on taking responsibility for our spiritual well-being! The devotional goes along great with it - so seriously if you didn't watch it do it now! It's fantastic. But, we had a great talk about the importance of perspective and how you look at things and the vitalness of taking control of what you do and being yourself while you do it. We shared a couple quotes from President Uchtdorf that I might have shared before... But I can't remember so here's a good one: "Whether your testimony is thriving and healthy or your activity in the Church more closely resembles a Potemkin village, the good news is that you can build on whatever strength you have. Here in the Church of Jesus Christ you can mature spiritually and draw closer to the Savior by applying gospel principles day by day. With patience and persistence, even the smallest act of discipleship or the tiniest ember of belief can become a blazing bonfire of a consecrated life. In fact, that’s how most bonfires begin—as a simple spark.So if you feel small and weak, please simply come unto Christ, who makes weak things strong.8 The weakest among us, through God’s grace, can become spiritually strong, because God “is no respecter of persons.” He is our “faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments.”

It was a great day :) Wednesday we got to do service and had a couple good discussions about faith and how important it is in this life. Thursday came and went with a flash, as we helped a few members with some things and also had a few good visits throughout the day. Friday was pretty awesome, as we had a great district meeting and were privileged to get to go to the temple with Michelle to do baptisms for some of her relatives :) It was pretty awesome and the spirit was super strong as we did it and got to share in that memory! On Saturday we had a blast with various things before going up to Stillwater for a stake priesthood meeting that was pretty awesome! President Bowman is awesome and an inspired man - especially when speaking from the pulpit. Sadly, we've got to get heading out now, so I don't have time to go into much detail, but he encouraged us ot make sure that we as Priesthood holders and members of the Lord's church learn and do our Duty as D&C 107:99-100 exhorts us to do! So, that was sweet. 

I hope you guys have a great week! Love y'all!

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson