Happy New Year! We had a pretty sweet start to the year, but you'll hear more about that later. This week is transfers (again), and Elder Kenison is heading off to Elk City and I'll be getting Elder Fuller here in Edmond 3rd! It should be a pretty sweet time, and there's definitely plenty of awesome people to work with here so I'm pretty stoked. This week has just flown by, along with most of the last few weeks. I'm not entirely sure where the time has been going... but hopefully it's somewhere that it enjoys being since it definitely hasn't been sticking around here for very long! For my studies this week I've been focused on reading in Preach my Gospel, the Book of Mormon, and a talk by Elder Corbridge called "The Fourth Missionary" I'll throw some quotes from my studies in throughout, since they're typically connected with things that happened throughout the week.
Last Monday was a pretty crazy day, the library was super busy and we only had a little while to email due to other things as well, so I'm sorry the update was pretty short last week. We also had a pretty interesting night last week, when as we were leaving a member family's house there was a dog sitting there right when we opened the door to leave. Luckily, we were able to keep their dogs from doing anything to the lost one and luckily the lost one had a collar with some tags that allowed us to contact the owner and he was able to get back home :) It was super neat that it all worked out, but it was pretty startling to find a dog where you were about to step. Something that struck me from my studies that I saw in our visits on Monday particularly was this quote: "Each person or family you teach is unique. Even though you will not understand all of their interests, achievements, needs, and concerns, you should seek to be sensitive to their circumstances. Regardless of needs or problems, all people are best helped as they accept and live the gospel."
On Tuesday we had a pretty sweet day - a few fun visits, lots of people not home, and a couple delicious meals. Paul and Sister Ramsey took us to Ted's Cafe Escondido for lunch, and it was delicious. Elder Kenison hadn't ever gotten to go before, and it was on his Edmond bucket list so he got to check that off. As we visited with them during lunch, the principle of regular scripture study was really emphasized, and it showed the truth of this quote from PMG: "Your ability to teach with power from the scriptures comes in large measure from the time you personally spend studying them. As you daily feast upon the word, your ability to teach from the scriptures will improve. In addition, your invitations to study and ponder the scriptures will be more powerful because you are doing the same thing in your life." We also had dinner with a fantastic family that night, and tried a bunch of other people who weren't home after that, but it was still a pretty good day. On Wednesday for New Year's eve we were told that we could be out until 10:30pm, but that we weren't supposed to do much in the way of contacting people that we didn't know very well. So, we did some service at the Hope Center and did some cleaning before seeing a couple families and then having dinner with an awesome couple that has a 1 year old son and then we played some games with them to relax and celebrate the new year. For dinner, Brother Jensen had gotten a box of meat through a series of events and so they fed us a steak that was literally as big as my plate... and it was dang good.
Of particular note for Thursday, we woke up and there was ice on the roads... so our cars were grounded most of the day. Something I was pondering throughout the day from my studies was this quote from the 4th missionary: "We plan many things in life. But, have you planned your greatest work? Have you envisioned who you will become? Do you plan for what kind of person you want to become? Can you see in your mind who you want to be? Do you know?" Even though our cars were grounded, we got to go out to dinner with a family at Sumo, a japanese Hibachi grill place that was super tasty. It was pretty neat, since if you go there on your birthday they take a polaroid of your group (or at least they used to), and the family had gone for their son's birthday in 2005 so it was cool to see the picture from back then! While we were visiting with Brother Hicks that night we talked about Luke 17:32 which says: "Remember Lot's Wife." Throughout the week we shared this video with quite a few people: Video!
On Friday after district meeting in Guthrie, I got to go on an exchange here in Edmond 3rd with Elder Schwartz, and it was a pretty sweet day. Something that was really emphasized to me throughout the day was this quote from the 4th Missionary: "To believe that weaknesses and deficiencies in your character are unchangeable is to reject the central truth of the plan of salvation (the atonement). You are not cast in stone. You not only can change but you do change all of the time. You are a dynamic, changing, evolving being. You are always changing. You never stay the same. You cannot stand still." We got to have dinner at Ted's with an awesome family in the ward and it was delicious yet again! I got something different this time, just so you know! We also got to visit with a few member families throughout the day and had a fantastic visit with Sandy and Michelle after dinner. Brother Rudd, their home teacher, came with us and it was a super spiritual visit! We found out last Monday that approval for Michelle to be baptized came in and so she's working towards being baptized on February 6th! It'll be a blast!
Of particular note this weekend was church on Sunday being at 12:30... it was really weird and felt super late. But, we had a fantastic fast and testimony meeting, so that was sweet. We also had another fantastic dinner and then got to go out and see the Dinges family and Paul and Sister Ramsey, so it was a pretty fun night! We had some good discussions, and this quote from PMG was particularly relevant: "You can help people gain a correct understanding of God as our Heavenly Father and develop faith in Jesus Christ by helping them have personal spiritual experiences rather than simply telling them about the nature of God."
Anyway, I've gotta get moving onto other emails and such, but I hope you guys have a great week! Love y'all!
'Til Next Time,
Elder Jordan Nielson
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