Hey Everyone!
Merry Christmas! It's only a few days away now, so I hope you're ready! I know that here we have a rough plan of what we're going to be doing, part of which involves skyping our families, which will be a blast! We've also got some solid appointments this week, which should be a blast and help keep us busy! Plus, I hear the weather is supposed to be super nice for Christmas here - in the 50's or something like that, which I'm looking forward too :) No white Christmas for me though!
This week has absolutely flown by! It's just been a whirlwind with a mini-transfer for all the people going home, some fun lessons, lots of planning, and a fun exchange with Elder Hoopes here in Edmond. In my studies this week, I spent a good deal of the time studying from Preach my Gospel chapters 6-8, and it was a blast! One quote that stuck out to me was in Chapter 6 when it says: "Charity, like faith, leads to action. You will develop charity as you lookfor opportunities to serve others and give of yourself." It just emphasized to me that in order to develop any attribute, be it faith, charity, patience, etc. you have to work for it and act as though you already have it and eventually it will come. It was definitely something that we put into practice, because for a lot of this week, we've spent time helping out a family in the ward by handing out flyers for a "Cup for a Can cocoa stand" that they did this last Saturday, after being inspired by this fantastic article in the Friend this month: Article! We had a blast handing out the flyers, since there were quite a few people who opened the door, said they weren't interested, and then talked to us for a minute once we told them we were passing out flyers for a food drive. The family said that they had a lot of people come, and filled 3 boxes of food, so it sounded like a worthwhile experience for everyone! We also met a few people who were willing to let us come back, which is something that doesn't happen super often while tracting around here. But, it was definitely a fun experience to see the reactions various people had when we talked to them and gave them the flyers.
Another thing that stuck out to me was how much God works in his work. There were multiple experiences this week, particularly yesterday, where our timing couldn't have been any better - 2 times yesterday we planned to go see someone and our timing ended up that we were walking to/from their door and they pulled up and invited us to come in and visit with them. It was super neat, especially once we started considering all the little things that added up to end up with us being there when they pull up. It reminds me of a quote from Preach my Gospel that I read this morning in chapter 8: "Meaningful goals and careful planning will help you accomplish what the Lord requires of you." The Lord has required that we seek his guidance as we strive to help and serve others and a key part of that is making sure that we do things when He wants us to, not when we want to in order to help the greatest number of His children come closer and return to him. As we watched "He is the Gift" with people this week trying to prepare them for Christmas, we also would watch "Because of Him", the video the church put out around Easter to help emphasize the impact that the Gift of Christ has in our lives, so, here's a couple links, just do it! Gift!Because!
One other quick highlight from this week before I've gotta get a move on, we had a fun visit with Brother Dinges on Friday, and had a great chat about the Priesthood, why it was taken away from the Earth, why it had to be restored, and how we've come to know that it has been. A key part of it is of course covered in the "Restoration" lesson in preach my gospel, but it was fun to be able to bear testimony and take it out of a lesson setting and just make it super personal since he really wanted to know how we knew. It was a pretty fun week overall, and the principle in 1 Nephi 8 verses 11 and 12 which says: "11 And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof; and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted. Yea, and I beheld that the fruit thereof was white, to exceed all the whiteness that I had ever seen. 12 And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit."
I hope you have a great week and a very Merry Christmas! Love y'all!
'Til Next Time,
Elder Jordan Nielson
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