Monday, February 10, 2014

February 10th, 2014

Hey Everyone!
I can't believe another week has passed already, but life keeps moving on regardless of if we want it to or not! This week has been jam packed full of cool events, but since I never have enough time to write already, I'll have to pick a couple to highlight. Sorry :(
The first thing I wanted to highlight this week was the importance of having members out with us! We had a super awesome experience on Saturday where the member we had out with us bore powerful testimony of the spirit and how it had prompted him to rearrange his schedule to come out to this specific lesson with us, and it was just neat. If only y'all could have been there, because the spirit was just so powerful for the rest of the visit and it totally changed what could have very easily turned into a one-and-done family. So yeah. Help the missionaries, because if they're anything like me they really really really need it ;)
Yesterday we had a youth fireside, which was probably one of the least organized things I've ever participated in as we really didn't find out any details about it until Friday and those details kept changing all the way until Sunday. But, with some serious help from the spirit it turned out to be an awesome experience for all those involved, and the refreshments were super awesome! There were a couple miracles involved, one of which was because in sacrament meeting we found out the parents were invited to come as well and we hadn't planned on that but it worked out super well as the parents were able to testify that the situations we practiced for actually happen, so that was a pretty awesome experience. Another was that the youth actually participated! We had a couple parts planned that would have been super short without their participation, but after a little while they actually started to put in their ideas and it turned out pretty well. During the fireside we also watched a couple videos that y'all would probably enjoy:
Since I went through all that work to put those links in... 
Anyway, another miracle this week was on Wednesday night after we had run out of plans after the member who was scheduled to come out with us bailed (he had strep throat, so it was a decent excuse), so we were debating between going in to clean the apartment (we were pretty close by and it really really needed to be done), or trying one last potential who hasn't yet been home in the 2 months since they first ran into him. So, we decided to try him and we had a super spiritual lesson that started out with him asking what our basic beliefs were so we shared the Articles of Faith, and then he asked to know a little more about Joseph Smith so we shared the restoration! It was awesome, and then after that his wife offered us some Taco soup, so my day was pretty much made. We hadn't had a dinner that night with members so we had eaten pretty sparsely, so it was definitely a miracle ;)

My studies this week were super awesome, at least from my point of view ;) I spent a lot of time reading talks, studying the Book of Mormon, and in the Doctrine and Covenants. A few thoughts from that, starting with the Doctrine and Covenants. I particularly enjoyed reading through section 20 this week, and a verse that I hadn't really noticed before was verse 76 where it talks about how the priest or elder is to administer the Sacrament, particularly the phrase "solemn prayer" as I used to think that the sacrament prayer was just kinda something that we said each week but really, we're supposed to really pray sincerely because this is something that's so vital to each of us and not something that we should take for granted or just kinda go through the motions. Another point I particularly liked was in section 25, verses 12-13. It says: "12 For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads.13 Wherefore, lift up thy heart and rejoice, and cleave unto the covenants which thou hast made." And I just thought it was super neat how he tells us to rejoice and cleave unto our covenants for those are the sources of our greatest blessings from God.
Anyway, some other verses I liked that y'all should go check out are:
In 1 Nephi:
  • 16:8-9
  • 16:29
  • 17:3
  • 17:49-51
  • 19:6-7
  • 19:20
In the Doctrine and Covenants:
  • 20:11-12
  • 20:14-15
  • 21:5-6
  • 23:3
  • 24:12-14
  • 27:15-18
And then I also loved a couple talks I read this week, "You Can Do it Now" By President Uchtdorf in this last conference, and "Life is Eternal" by President Benson. So... y'all should go check those out.
Alrighty, so I thought of one last experience that we had this week that I wanted to talk to y'all about and it was quite intense. We talked to this one part member family that's always great to see about Elder Scott's talk from this last conference, "Personal Strength through the Atonement of Jesus Christ". The talk is super awesome and talks about the fathers of the 2000 stripling warriors, so if y'all don't remember it... click the link and refresh a little bit. As we discussed this talk with them though, we were able to feel the spirit testify to them that the atonement is real, and that even when we overcome things there is always more to do but through Christ we are able to do everything we need to. Anyway, it was just super awesome and that talk is fantastic ;)
I think that's all I've got time for this week! Have a fantastic week y'all! Love ya!
'Til Next Time,
Elder Jordan Nielson

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