June 17th, 2013 - Alright... someone needs to slow this down!

Hey Everyone,
So this is Jordan's blog post from June 17. I know I know, I am a little late in putting it up but late is better than never right? Anyway, enjoy reading!
-Spencer A. Nielson

Hey Everyone!

I seriously can't believe another week has gone by already! I hit my month mark since I entered the MTC a couple days ago, and that was surprising enough. Seriously... missions aren't quite long enough... Considering there's about 4 months of training before you really get kicking, it's not as long as it seems. Then there's the fact that it flies by like no other!

This week has probably been the best week yet... actually it definitely has. My companion's subject for his weekly email was "Awesomest Week Ever!" and I think mine would also be that if it hadn't flown by so quickly!

On another note, you all should vote on if you prefer me going day by day or if you prefer just listing some cool experiences and scriptures... I don't really mind either way, but someone should get a vote going for me.

But anyway, Tuesday was pretty awesome! We were able to meet with a less active member and visit with him. He was pretty awesome, and I hope that he was able to feel the spirit that was there as we discussed the importance of reading scriptures daily. It was pretty awesome, as we just barely caught him before he headed out the back door. Then we met with a recent convert who hasn't been to church in a couple weeks and had an inspiring lesson with him about the importance of church. It really helped me to see really why we go to church and why it's important to make that sacrifice to get out of bed in the morning to renew the covenants I've made with my Father in Heaven. Then, because a couple members had cancelled on going out with us, we asked him if he wanted to go teaching with us that night. It was pretty awesome, as we got to visit with an older lady and teach her the stop smoking workshop and he was able to bear his testimony of prayer there and it was just a super awesome spiritual experience. Then we visited with a family we're teaching, and he was able to bear his testimony about the importance of church to them as they had come to church for the first time the sunday before. Then on the way back with him, we started talking about missions, and the coolest thing happened. He said that he had been considering if he wanted to serve a mission and do what we do, and that his experiences that night had helped him decide that he indeed wanted to serve! It was awesome to see the change in him just from that afternoon when he was kind of luke-warm about going to church to deciding to serve a mission by the end of the night.

Then came Wednesday, which was a pretty great day. We had a meeting down in the city for the new Veteran Missionaries (those who have been out for a couple weeks) and President Taylor, Sister Taylor, and the AP's gave us some awesome training and counsel. It was incredible! Then we headed back up to Ponca and with the two and a half hours we had left we got to work. We had asked in Priesthood on Sunday if any of the brethern could come out teaching with us to an appointment we had, and after none of them raised their hands our investigator who was there leaned over to us and told us he would ask his wife, but he wanted to come out with us. Then on Wednesday the investigator we had the appointment with cancelled, and all of our back ups were also not home, so we decided to see a less active older couple who lives around the block from him. It was an awesome experience as he was able to bear his testimony about church (even though he had only been there once) and they both shared some of their experiences with him. So, basically we had an investigator go out teaching with us to visit a less active... even though it probably is supposed to be the other way around. It was awesome!

Thursday came, and Thursday went. It was my first exchange, as my companion is the district leader and par tof his responsibility is to go on exchanges with all the members of the district. But... I'm out of time, so I'll start with this Thursday next week when I have more time!

Love,

Elder Nielson

June 24th, 2013 - Elder Nielson's Weekly Blog

Hey Everyone,
So I have been totally slacking in putting up Jordan's blog posts for the past three weeks but I hope you all will forgive me. So anyway here is his latest one and I will put up the other two as well so enjoy. (They are pretty long... but full of good stuff)
-Spencer A. Nielson

Hey Everyone!

How are you all doing?

Wait just a minute... It's already June 24th?!?!?!?

Alright, so I've been in the field about a month now, and it's pretty much flown by. Like seriously... July is less than a week away and it's kind of scary - we get a new mission president this Friday!

This week pretty much flew by, with zone preparation day last Monday, lots of work Tuesday -Thursday, going on an exchange to Blackwell on Friday, Tornado Clean up on Saturday, church and that awesome broadcast yesterday, and finally I'm here! But, my last email wasn't as complete as I would have liked to make it - and I have a bit more time today, so let's start there.

I kind of mentioned in my last email about last Thursday (the 13th) going on my first exchange - it was a pretty swell experience to see how another Elder does his work. I learned a lot from him, and increased my confidence quite a bit as I was put on the spot a lot more and cared less about how people responded as it wasn't my area. That might have been a bad mindset... but it definitely allowed me to be more bold with the people - which was good - and it also made it easier to talk to the people as I didn't figure I'd see them again in the near future. Then came Friday, and we had a miracle in that we were able to catch a couple people who we don't usually get to see.

Saturday was pretty great in that we were able to go out with one of the most solid members in our ward. We were able to teach and visit with 3 people and they all went pretty great. We even saw some of the people we taught at Church the next day! Speaking of which the next day was pretty awesome. We had church and it was Father's day which made church even better! It was probably our laziest church day ever as all the teachers were there and so we didn't get to substitute for any of the Sunday School classes, and most of the young men were there as well! It was pretty awesome. Then that night we had a great experience visiting with a couple less active members (who haven't been to church in probably 5 or more years) and it was neat to be able to listen to them and just gently encourage them to read their scriptures and pray and then work towards attending church.

Alright, now that we're up to this week (we're on the 17th for those who lost track like me and had to go look it up). For zone preparation day we went bowling, which was pretty awesome. My best game I bowled a 104, which was pretty solid for not having bowled in months. There was an elder there who bowled a 185 one game, which was quite impressive. He gave me a few tips as well which helped out a bit.

Then we had a great zone training meeting, where we discussed personal challenges that we face, and how through his Atonement, Christ is able to help us overcome them. We also talked a bit about how to get along better with out companions, and to apply the Doctrine of Christ into our lives. A question I asked myself a couple times during this meeting, was "How can I desire to... " and the answer I've found is generally to look back on experiences that I've had previously and then pray to understand the Atonement more. As I've done that I've discovered that the promise in Moroni 10:5 - that by the Power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things - is true for everything. I've also learned from that meeting that it is vital to get to know the members you're working with - and the members getting to know the missionaries - so that all can work together to invite others to come unto Christ.

Our zone (and now mission) is implementing a program called "#THEFLOOD". It's a pretty simple way for members to get more involved spreading the gospel to those around them. the basis for the program is found in Moses 7:62 "...and righteousness and truth will I cause to sweep the earth as with a flood, to gather out mine elect from the four quarters of the earth..." So with that verse, the challenge we give to the members is that every 2 weeks they (as a family) will give someone a Book of Mormon with their written testimony inside to help spread the gospel. There's 4 simple steps related to that, in the acronym P.R.A.Y.. The first step, Prayerfully consider is related to D&C 9:8and is where they consider who they could give the Book of Mormon to through prayer. After they decide on someone and the spirit confirms to them that it is a good choice, they make it Relevant. The scripture with that is 1 Nephi 19:23 and it's where you make it personal to them by writing your testimony inside. After that you Act in faith and actually give them the copy. The scripture with that is Mosiah 4:10 and it basically tells you that if you believe the gospel see that you do these things - meaning share it in this case. After that you're promised that Ye shall receive which is related to D&C 6:29-31 and because the promise in that scripture is from the Lord, you are sure of the promise in Ether 3:12. So basically, it's just a pretty simple way to share the Book of Mormon with those around you, and if you have any questions you're supposed to ask the missionaries in your area.

So yeah... that was only about half an hour of the meeting - so imagine how awesome the rest was! Another highlight from this week was on Saturday (the 22nd) when we went down with our ward to help with Tornado Clean up in Shawnee. We spent some time down there helping clean up an antique workshop - a place where they buy old furnishings and such and fix them up for antique stores - which was interesting as there was some pretty cool things there. But, most of it looked like junk to us so we spent a little while questioning why they wanted to keep so much of it, but that was their choice. It was pretty cool as we got to basically tear down a building (as 3/4 walls has blown away on the workshop) and move the contents to a car port they had just finished. After that we headed over and helped clean up some trees that they had cut down earlier in the day - Cedar trees for those who might want to know -and they were pretty huge. They made a sweet looking chair, but I didn't have my camera on me so there's no picture of it. We then headed up to Freddy's for lunch and we had some tasty food. Something super cool happened though - we were in our yellow Mormon Helping Hands shirts, and some random lady who we will probably never see again came up and thanked us for our hard work and left the brother who paid for our lunch with a couple twenties to "treat us to some ice cream". Now I don't know about you, but we all thought that was a miracle because we felt bad for having him pay for our lunch when we had just eaten at his house a couple days ago. It was neat to see how the Lord works in small ways. After that we headed back home and got back to work.

Another highlight of this last week was the Broadcast yesterday, which if you want to watch check it out here: http://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/special-broadcast?lang=eng it's about 2 hours, so be aware but it's super awesome! I learned so much about how to work better with the people in our area, and I'm so excited to start applying it. Now, there are some pretty exciting announcements in this broadcast, but most of them are going to be phased in throughout the next year so I'll let y'all know whatever happens.  

Alright, I think that's enough highlights about what all I'm doing, so now it's time for my favorite part of emailing home - the chance to share some things I've been studying!

My studies this week have mostly come from the Book of Mormon - particularly Mosiah and the first couple chapters of Alma. Something cool I realized as I was reading through Mosiah 12-15 (the story of Abinadi teaching King Noah the commandments) was that there were a few slight differences between the commandments but the basic jist of what was being asked is the same. It helped me realize that the Book of Mormon and the Bible really do teach the same thing, and it also helped me to recognize the importance of using both.

Another cool story I read this week is in Mosiah 24, specifically verses 13-15 as they helped me realize how willing the Lord is to help us throughout or trials. It was cool to read about their experience with the Lord's help and then try and see how the Lord blesses and helps me with my burdens. A few examples I came up with are as follows. (1) He strengthens me - there's no other way I would be able to bike how far we do (at least 8 miles a day) and talk to as many people with out his help. (2) He gives me what to say - a cool experience with that this week was when we were visiting with a family in our ward and sharing a spiritual thought with them before dinner. We talked about #THEFLOOD with them, and the sister asked what to do if you've already given someone a Book of Mormon to bring up the gospel again. We mentioned publications like "The Living Christ" as a way to bring up gospel subjects that she could bear testimony about, and she said to us that she had never thought of using those before. It was cool to see that the Lord really does help us know what to say right when we need it.

Today I was studying in Alma 5, which is a chapter I really like to read whenever I think I could use a little humbling. My favorite verse in the chapter - verse 26, reminds me often that I need to consistently reinforce my testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel and the Book of Mormon, for without that constant strengthening that testimony would collapse. Something else I really like from this chapter is the kind of questions Alma asks the people. Most of the questions aren't just yes/no questions but they're there to really make you think about your life and reflect. As part of that reflection I've kind of challenged myself to apply this chapter more in my life by applying that samePRAY acronymn to it. But, switch it up a little bit by prayerfully considering which question to work on/answer that day, and then making it relevant to me by rewriting it so that it is a question being asked to me in this time and then acting throughout the day to apply it. Then the Ye shall receive step is kind of related to verse 46 of the chapter where "the Lord God hath made them manifest unto me by his Holy Spirit" because I know that as I work to apply these soul searching questions into my life Heavenly Father will manifest by the Holy Ghost the things that I can do to be better and become more like him.

Alright... so that's kind of a long email, but I had some time today to write one :)

I hope y'all like it, and in case you didn't notice there were a couple links in there to the scriptures to make it easy to look it up so that I wouldn't have to quote them all and make my email twice as long as it already is.

Thanks for all that you guys do to help me!

Love,

Elder Nielson

June 3rd, 2013 - First week in the field... is over?!?

Hey all Spencer here. So here is another blog post from Jordan detailing his first week in the field. Have fun reading it is sort of long...

Hey Everyone!

It's been a super crazy first week here in the field! I got here on the 28th, and was out in my area by that night which was appearantly super unusual. We got to Oklahoma at about 2pm that day, and then were at the chapel that they were doing transfers at that week before 2:30pm. We had lunch and then had a super brief orientation before getting interviewed by President Taylor and sending a super quick email to our parents. We then got to meet our trainers and companion for the next six weeks, so it was super suspenseful! My companion/trainer/dad's name is Elder Rasmuson, and he's pretty awesome. He's from Saratoga Springs, Utah, and has been out a little over a year so far. His trainer/dad was Elder Fee so that's my grandpa. He's also been out a little over a year as he trained Elder Rasmuson when he was out for only 3 months. Anyway, they're both super awesome and knowledgeable. My companion and I are currently up in Ponca City, which is about 2.5 hours north of OKC and is a pretty small town. There's about 25,000 people here and about 80-100 active members in the ward.

My first real day in the field was eventful to say the least - we had to do some shopping as we didn't get to our area until late Tuesday night. So after lunch was when we really got to work and it was pretty cool. We got to stop by and visit some less actives and a few of the investigators and get some appointments to come teach them later in the week. We also got to help the son of one of the members move back into the ward which was pretty exciting to get to meet some of the ward members that first day. The next day was much of the same, yet very different as the people we saw were incredibly different and we got to teach a few lessons which made it that much more exciting. On a random note, we get two hours of companionship study each morning (except Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays because of various reasons) and we're a bike area. With my arrival - and that of another new missionary, Elder Spafford, we split the Ponca City Area and there's now four Elders. So in our ward we have Elder Spafford, his trainer Elder Glad, my trainer Elder Rasmuson, and me! Our district also includes another companionship over in Blackwell, Elders Roundy and Platt. Anyway, back to Thursday - overall it was a pretty successful day as the lessons went well and one of the less actives we met with came to church yesterday. On Friday we had district meeting, so the morning was shot with studying and that. Then after lunch we started to go around trying some people and it ended up being what my companion called a "Trial of your faith" day, as we didn't end up getting to see or teach anyone really as our two appointments fell through and then the weather got crazy. The weather was a very interesting thing to deal with, and I got to spend my first couple (of probably many) hours in a tornado shelter under orders of the mission president. Then that night the entire district stayed over at our house in preparation for the next day.

Saturday came, and we got up at 4:45am to head down to OKC to help with the tornado clean up efforts. Once we got down there, we had a meeting first with Elder Rasband of the presidency of the seventy, and he was awesome. He had been at a party to Celebrate President Eyring's 80th brithday the day before, and President Monson had sent him with 3 explicit things to tell us: (1) President Monson loves us (2) He prays specifically for us (3) He is grateful for our efforts. The spirit there was exceedingly strong, and it was pretty cool to be able to shake his hand. The most impressive part was probably the fact that 200 missionaries in the yellow "Helping Hands" shirts standing in the chapel was a sight to behold, so much so that one of the senators of Oklahoma - Jim Inhofe - came and spoke a few words to us. It was awesome. After that meeting we got to go and clean up a giant park for 3 hours and then we headed back up to Ponca City.

Yesterday was awesome, as we started out with church meetings at 9:30am, then the 3 hours of study, and then we went off to see people. We ended up meeting two awesome potential investigators and hopefully you'll find out more about them once we start teaching them.

So in my studies this first week I've studied a large range of things. The first day I focused my studies on lesson 1, and the scripture in Act 10:34-43 stuck out to me, especially verse 43, how Prophets are called to testify of Christ and that is what they have done since the beginning of time. The next day I focused on the section in Preach My Gospel about "How to begin teaching" and worked on learning those bullet points. I also spent some time in Alma 5, which is a pretty awesome chapter, especially if you want to ponder and think about some "Search your soul" questions. I especially like the question he asks in verse 26: "And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?" It's just one of those great questions that makes you really search your soul and see how you feel when you're asked that. I also love in verses 45-47 where he shares his testimony and how he gained it in what I can think of as the simplest way. I love those verses because, by the "Holy Spirit of God" I also know that Christ atoned for our sins and suffered our pains and afflications for us. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God by that same spirit and it has also testified to me that Joseph Smith is a Prophet of God. Those verses have been a great strength to me in these first few days as I've worked to testify by that same power to others. Another day I spent studying the Gifts of the Spirit, and I found it super cool that those are found in the Book of Mormon (Moroni 10:9-19), New Testament (1 Corinthians 12:1-11), and the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C 46:7-26). Those gifts are super awesome, and I've been able to see some of them in real life already on my mission - it's super cool.

Alright, well that's about it for this week... this email took about 20 minutes of my email time, so I hope you read it all the way through and it wasn't time spent for nothing :)

Love,

Elder Jordan Nielson

May 27th, 2013 - So it Begins!

Well everyone here it is!

I don't know about you guys... but these two weeks have absolutely flown by! I leave the MTC tomorrow morning, and it's been such a blast. My favorite part of being here has definitely been the devotionals we've been able to watch, partially because I know that I'll never get to see those again (unless I end up being like a branch president or something here... that would be pretty sweet). I might have to send out an email next week with my notes from all of them (the parts I want to share) just so you guys can have a glimpse into how awesome they are. Aside from that, my experience here has been pretty sweet. My district is still ridiculously awesome, and it's incredible how close we've gotten over the mere period of two weeks. The study time is still quite awesome, but I think I've begun to enjoy the teaching chances more - TRC (Training Resource Center for those not familiar with MTC acronyms) is a blast.

Just so you're all aware - and this is kind of really really important - I know that the Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is the word of God. I know it to be true, and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is Christ's church on the Earth today. That's rather important to me, otherwise I wouldn't be out here getting ready to head off and tell the people of Oklahoma that. I know that if you take the chance to follow the teachings of Christ and his church that your life will be blessed - I've seen it already in mine, and in the lives of those I teach.

Well, aside from that I don't really have any huge major events that have happened since I got here, though I have gotten the chance to see a bunch of Elders and Sisters that I knew previously such as Sister Roseman, Hermana Lind, Hermana Baria, Elder Mccullough, Sister Macintosh, a friend named Robert who I can't spell his last name,  and Elder White. It's been pretty sweet to see familiar faces and it has definitely made the days much easier.

So a scripture I've heard a lot while I'm here is Proverbs 3:5-6, which talks about trusting in the Lord. Goodness how applicable that scripture is here! There are so many things that I just have to take on faith that they'll work out that I don't even care to count them. It also applies in all my relationships with my district and companion as I know there's a reason I've been placed with them.

In addition to that one, a scripture I've looked over quite often is Alma 34:14-17 (and just that chapter in general... it's pretty great). One of the devotionals pointed out those verses to me and had us count how many times the phrase "Faith unto repentance" is there, so I challenge you guys to do that as well.

Then there's one of my favorite scriptures: D&C 121:7-9 which has basically been a great help to me throughout these two weeks as a source of peace and comfort. I know that my time serving the Lord isn't very long (for those of you older than me... what were you doing two years ago?), so I need to make the most of it as I know it will all be a good thing in the end.

On a slightly random note, if you don't have a paper copy of any of these books of scripture that I know are true - specifically the Book of Mormon or Doctrine and Covenants - check out lds.org and go to the scriptures category to find an online version.

As I've been here at the MTC and as I head off to the mission field I plan on taking Nephi's advice in 2 Nephi 33:15 "and I must obey. Amen." The MTC President pointed out that as Nephi's last words of scripture he put that, and he made sure to have us recognize the importance of obedience.

On another note, I hope all of you are doing well out in the world, and that you'll let me know how you are doing, as I love to hear from you! Feel free to send me an email, but since I only check that once a week it might be a better idea to send me real snail mail at the mission home address:
416 SW 79th St

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA 73139-8121

Sincerely,

Elder Jordan Nielson

May 21st, 2013 - Week 1: The first week of training at the MTC

Spencer here, and this is a new post that Jordan sent me to put up here. So enjoy!

Hey Everyone!

So my first week in the Missionary Training Center out in Provo is over, and it's been super fabulous so far!

The food isn't too terrible, and there is as much of it as I want so that's definitely a good thing for now.

Aside from that, there has been ample time to study the scriptures and learn things, so the majority of this email is probably going to contain stuff about that.

As I've been here so far, on the average day we have at least two hours set aside to study, most of which is personal study time. So I've been reading some awesome scriptures and after this I'll share some thoughts on them.

Recently, one of my favorite chapters to go to is 3 Nephi 27 as there's so much great information to learn from it.

For example, in the first few verses (4-10 or so) Christ is super patient with his disciples as he explains to them in great detail why his Church needs to be called in his name.

Additionally, in verses 13-21 he lays out his gospel in such awesome and plain language that it had never struck me before how simple the gospel really is.

The rest of the chapter has some awesome blessings and things as well, but I haven't gotten around to really studying it yet as I've also studied elsewhere in the scriptures.

We spent some time in 1 Nephi 1, and it's kind of ridiculous how much you can get just from the first verse of that chapter. For example, it shows in the first line how important family is to the Lord.

Then it moves on to let you know that learning is also important to the Lord as it comes right after that. It continues to relate how even through afflictions Nephi was blessed of the Lord.

And he ends the verse telling you that because of all the things the Lord has blessed him to know and see he makes a record of his proceedings. I find it pretty cool that he says he is making the record "of my proceedings in my days" as that shows that even the prophets are only going to talk about what they know. It's just awesome for me to see that.

If you keep reading the chapter dissecting each verse like that it's pretty awesome how much you get just from the first chapter of the book.

For a random note, I want you all to know why I decided to come out here and serve a mission for two years. It certainly wasn't a choice I was pressured to make, as all of that pressure was relieved once the three brothers before me didn't go. So, it was totally my choice to come, and I don't regret it for a minute. I'm here because of the fact that I love my savior Jesus Christ, and know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and is true with all my heart. I wouldn't deny those things for the world, and I'm super grateful for the chance I have to serve the people of Oklahoma for the next two years, and I hope that you all can bear with me as I send you word perhaps kind of infrequently.

On another note, my district here in the MTC is pretty awesome! We have 6 elders (including me) and 4 sisters, so there's a total of ten of us who are all going to the same mission. My companions Elder Pinder is from Boise and is kind of ridiculously awesome. He enjoys singing, and in addition to that has a great sense of humor that keeps me happy and upbeat. He definitely makes this experience a lot more fun than I had planned on it being. Our zone leaders are Elder Garner and Elder Hoddy, yes that is actually his name... and lots of people here think it fits him. They're pretty great, and are both from Utah (one from Orem and one from South Jordan). In addition to them, we have Elder Watkins (our district leader) and Elder Martin his companion. Elder Watkins is from California and loves to sing as well, and he's like 6' 5", easily the tallest of our bunch. Then there's Elder Martin who is from Utah and enjoys singing but thinks he's bad at it and is about 5' 10" and ends up being the shortest of our bunch of Elder. Then there's our awesome sisters, starting with Sister Cooper who is from Riverton, Wyoming and played basketball on her college's team before coming out here. Then there's her companion Sister Williams who is from Utah, and is pretty great at just being an awesome example and happens to be the Sister Training Leader (which basically means she helps train the sisters). We also have Sister Roberts from Boise who does a pretty good job of keeping us all on our toes with her sarcasm and humor that make her a joy to be around (but seriously... it makes the MTC a lot less of a prison to be here with such awesome people). Her companion is Sister Durfee who is from California and is one of those people who loves to sing Soprano because she can make it sound good... not that I have anything against Sopranos....

So that's our district! Our zone has a few awesome people still, but most of them left yesterday. But staying behind we have a few sisters going to the London Visitor's Center, one of which is the previous Sister Training Leader Sister Walmsley who is from New Zealand and has a ridiculously sweet accent. Aside from that, the MTC is just pretty awesome :)

I've learned so much here it's kind of ridiculous, and on a slightly random note if you ever get a chance to watch a talk by Elder Bednar called "The Character of Christ" seize it immediately. Like really. It's kind of ridiculous how awesome that talk is.

'Til Next Time,

Elder Jordan Nielson

This is it!

 Well folks this is it! I'm finally off to the MTC, and I couldn't possibly be more excited. These two years are going to be full of so many different emotions and things that I don't think I could possibly explain how excited I am. In other news, my little brother Spencer will be posting my emails here that are going out to everyone who asks for them (or who I have an email for). He'll hopefully remember to do that each time I send him one. If he doesn't... someone bug him about it.

For those of you who didn't know (for some reason or other) I'm off to the Oklahoma Oklahoma City Mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

In other news, the address for my blog has changed, and is now just eldernielson.blogspot.com
It's still the same old blog, but now it has a new look, url, and title as I'm out on my mission and no longer at school.

Aside from that, these last few weeks preparing have been a whirlwind. I've spent tons of time with family, chilled out a little bit, flew back to Utah, played tennis with my dad and brother, gave my farewell talk, bought my mission clothes and supplies, and found time to skype with my best friends from school.

In addition to that, I kind want to leave y'all with a scripture (which there will likely be at least one in every email) that has hit me pretty hard these last couple days. It's D&C 121: 7-9:

 7 My son, ^apeace be unto thy soul; thine ^badversity and thine afflictions shall be but a ^csmall moment;

 8 And then, if thou ^aendure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy ^bfoes.

 9 Thy ^afriends do stand by thee, and they shall hail thee again with warm hearts and friendly hands.

Basically, as I've prepared to enter the MTC, I've been blessed to be supported by an awesome group of friends and family, most of which are probably going to be reading this blog throughout my mission. I'm so excited to go, and I hope that I'll be able to do my best the entire time, from day 1 until I return home.

'Til Next Time,

Elder Nielson

LotR, All-nighters, INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION

Alright, so I hope that title got you intrigued... but there has definitely been a lot of things going on in my life since I last posted on here! To start off with, we'll go back to a time where I was more productive......... or not, as that's probably going to involve going back quite a while. Anyway, it's been a super crazy spot of time since I last posted on here, with my calendar dripping in red.

To start off with, the day after I posted on here - which would be Thursday the 21st - I begrudgingly attended an "Academic" banquet. It was pretty much only begrudgingly because of the fact that my academics weren't good enough (I only know a few people who actually did that well in school last semester... I heard it was something around a 3.9 gpa to get invited), but because of the fact that I'm in RHA and therefore was required to go. After I got there I had a pretty decent time, I sat with some pretty swell folks, had a reasonably pleasant dinner, and ended up getting two awards! I got a "Bronze Pin Award of Excellence", which was described as follows on the certificate (and at the banquet): "The bronze pin award is given to a limited number of individuals who have made a lasting impact on BYU's Residence Life. This pin is the highest honor awarded on the campus level of the National Association of College and University Residence Halls, Incorporated." So that was pretty sweet to get, in addition to my award/pin for being inducted as a member of the National Residence Hall Honorary.

So after that swell day, Friday was pretty exciting - I started my journey of watching the Lord of the Rings series for the first time, extended edition style :) Then Saturday was quite eventful, as I went through the temple on Saturday morning to take out my endowments - coolest thing ever. Then Saturday afternoon I got to play dodgeball with some guys in my building. Then Sunday I was able to teach Sunday School again, and I think it was my best class to date - you'd have to ask the folks in my class about that though. Ward choir was a blast, and I was able to go home teaching that night!

Monday wasn't all that eventful, pretty much only went to work... but then I was actually productive on Tuesday! Unusual right? Well yeah. I kinda sorta ended up on international television for a good portion of our three-four minute choir piece during the BYU devotional. If you wanna check it out visit this a here Link!  You probably want to skip to around 9 minutes into it (9:15 if you want to be right when we start), as there's an excessive amount of pre-devotional junk on there. Other than that... Tuesday was just a regular day, with work and classes never ceasing.

Well... that's actually all I feel like writing for this post...

So...

'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson

Weeks It Has Been?

It has definitely been a heck of a month. That's all. But seriously. That's all I'm going to write for this post.


But really it isn't, because that would just be a waste of time for all parties involved. Instead I'm going to make you figure out how to read this post. I would give you a  hint, but to read it you would have already figured it out. Anyway, as I said previously it's been an interesting couple weeks since I last posted on here. There have been a myriad of events that have influenced how my days have gone, with one of the largest influences being my emotions - probably not a good thing while in school. My emotions have been all over the place lately... and to read more about that you'd have to hack into my journal - which wouldn't be very nice. I'm down to 57 days until I enter the Missionary Training Center to head to Oklahoma, which is really not that many. If all goes according to plan I'll be able to go through the temple for the first time this Saturday, and hopefully will go a ton before I enter the MTC. I'm also hoping to be able to be home for about two weeks before I leave, which should give me enough time to catch up with all the people I miss from back there. But back to why this has been an interesting length of time. For one, I've had a test or large assignment in pretty much all of my classes since I last wrote on here - which isn't all that fun. Additionally, the realizations have slowly been hitting me in larger measures each day regarding recent events that have made it really hard to just make it through the day. My roommate expressed it a lot better than I can in his post on his blog! You should go check it out, because I've been dealing with a lot of those same things, not really to the same extent, but it has definitely gotten a lot worse as time has passed by and things have been ratcheting back up to speed.

Another thing that has made this a crazy couple weeks has been work. It's usually pretty peaceful, and occasionally I'm even able to get stuff done (like tonight - got a few homework assignments done and found time to write on here!). But then there are the majority of the days where there are just constantly people in here for various reasons and I'm not able to hear myself think with all the things going on around me. Those nights are usually the ones where I had been having a bad day at classes anyway, and that compounded with working (and therefore staying up lateish) will often lead to me missing classes the next day - a very vicious cycle to be in. I'm working to try and break the cycle and get to class more often, but as some of my classmates can attest I'm not  having all that successful a time with it (if you have any tips about motivation to get to class please lemme know somehow!). 

On another note, I recently wrote another comfort zone assignment, and this one I think I'm actually comfortable sharing (though it isn't as far in my comfort zone as I'd like it to be). So, check it out here: LINK (there's also a link at the top of my blog if you wanna find it later). 

In other news, I changed the color scheme on my blog again. More St. Patrick's Day feely now, even though that just passed. Oh well. Guess that's what happens when you don't blog for a while. I recently started reading a book called "Quiet: The Power of Introverts In a World that Can't Stop Talking", and it's pretty good so far. The author has a ton of insights and such regarding the topic (which is introversion for those who couldn't guess that), and I feel like I'm learning a lot. It has definitely been too long since I've had a book I really enjoyed, and I've realized how much I miss sitting down and just reading for hours at a time. It's actually quite peaceful, which is nice in the rush of everything going on. 



Anyway, if you scrolled all the way down here and didn't catch the drift, you have to highlight the text to read it :P Oh, and if you want to see it on a mobile device that doesn't show text when you highlight it... I think you'll have to wait and use a computer or copy it into a document of some sorts and try to read it there.

'Til Next Time,
Jordan Nielson

Music, Sleep, and Productivity = School?

Alright... so my last post was pretty brief compared to a lot of my other ones, and that's largely because I've taken to writing a journal. I actually kinda like it - compared to whenever I used to try and do it and hated it, because like most guys I hate talking or writing my feelings anywhere - as it's a good outlet for stress. Now though, tennis class is starting up and hopefully that'll be the main outlet and my journal can actually become about my feelings instead of all the things that stress me out or stuff I need to work out with myself. Anyway. My post today has three major themes - Music, Sleep and Productivity - which all seem to be determining factors of how I'm doing in school.

Foremost is Music. I don't know about you, but to me Music is a huge indicator of my mood, and has a large influence on how my days go. Almost any day that I go to choir and sing will usually be a great day for me, while the days I don't have choir I usually find it hard to drag myself out of bed and get motivated to go to class in the freezing weather. I've also discovered though, that the music I sing or listen to has an impact on my mood as well. For example, right now I'm switching between Disney and Church music as I work on homework at three am. It's doing a pretty good job of keeping me awake, because I know most of the songs well enough to start singing if I get tired. In addition to that, it's helping keep me focused precisely because I know the songs well enough that I'm not intrigued by the lyrics or music to pay more attention to them than what I'm working on. On a slightly random Music note though - in the CES Devotional that Elder Bendar gave yesterday, the choir there sang alone on the last two verses of "How Firm a Foundation" which reminded me of the song that we're performing as a ward choir soon titled "Fear Not". It was written by the Jordan High School Seminary Faculty and a recording of it can be found here:

Recording!

It's quickly becoming my favorite song I've ever been able to sing in a ward choir - largely because of how uplifting and motivational it is. So seriously. Click the link and listen to it while you read the rest of this lengthy blog post.

My next topic revolves around something I've been having issues with recently - Sleep. As a college kid I've discovered how important sleep is, but I've also discovered how easy it is to not get enough sleep. For example, tonight I'm still awake and it's about  four am. Why? Because I was actually feeling productive, which is far more rare than me feeling tired. So, my thoughts about sleep are as follows:

1. It's really important - unless something more important comes up
2. I really, really, really like my sleep - so if I'm sleeping, don't bother me unless I asked you to previously
3. I don't sleep nearly as much as I used to for a variety of reasons
4. It takes me forever to fall asleep - like an average of an hour - which is really annoying because I'm usually thinking about things during that hour which doesn't help me get to sleep
5. I think too much
6. Nothing really good usually happens after midnight, so it's almost always my goal to get to sleep shortly thereafter
7. Contrary to my Chem Professor's belief, it is pretty common for me to lose sleep thinking about things related to school work
8. In contrast with that, it's slightly more common for me to stay up late thinking about things like girls, music, or church stuff

So those are my main thoughts on sleeping... which somehow leads me to writing about productivity?

I'm still not entirely sure how these things are related... but there is definitely a connection somewhere. It usually involves a mystical perfect amount of sleep where you wake up refreshed, not tired, and ready to be productive. That hasn't happened to me yet since I got to college, but it's something to strive for - which leads me to change how much sleep I get on a regular basis to try and find what works for me. I've discovered how easy it is to get too much sleep and waste away most of the day, but I've also discovered the affect no/little sleep has on my days. Usually, both of those are negative impacts but occasionally I get like no sleep and it becomes a good thing because I actually got stuff done staying up late that I wouldn't have gotten done otherwise. On a random note, I've discovered that facebook doesn't change much at all during the period from about 2am until noon, when people are up and posting stuff again. Anyway, at building meeting last night we talked about ways to improve our time management - which pretty much always seems to be a good thing to talk about and remind people of. We discussed ways to motivate yourself, and I can't seem to figure out a good one that doesn't have much of any negative consequences. My first thought was to reward myself with like Candy or Ice Cream after accomplishing some amount of homework, but the downside to that is I'll end up eating tons of candy. I'm starting to lean towards using baking as a reward... but nobody got time fo dat. Seriously though, if I were to reward myself with baking it'd have to be in like increments of an hour or two, which is a lot of time to take a break from studying for a reward. So if you have suggestions on that, I'd gladly welcome as many as possible!

And somehow or other, this all impacts school right? Well of course. School is kinda sorta my life - at least for the next seventy-two days!

On another random note, I'd like to throw in a plug for one of my mission prep teacher's books - The Continuous Atonement by Brad Wilcox (Deseret book link!). He assigned us to read a chapter every week from it, and I think that is the thing I look forward to most each week as Sunday rolls around. It's a super awesome book, and it's really uplifting and enlightening. So if you get a chance, make sure to check it out and perhaps even read it!

Well, looking at my calendar this week is going to a heck of a week if everything goes according to plan. So, if I'm still alive come the eleventh of the month of so, be glad. For just a brief glimpse into the craziness of this week:

1. I have a bio exam to take sometime between Monday and Wednesday
2. I have a chem exam to take sometime between Wednesday and Friday
3. I need to spend five plus hours working to prepare for invitational which is on Saturday night
4. I'm still working twelve hours this week at my job
5. My birthday is on Wednesday, and I might not have time to celebrate it very much
6. My tennis classes are in full swing for the first time this week, so that's another eight hours of in-class time I haven't had till this week
7. I have a computer programming lab due Friday which could take anywhere from an hour to twelve to finish

So yeah, it's going to be one of those weeks.

I probably won't get a blog post in... or at least don't bet on it. I'll be lucky to remember to write in my journal each day!

Well, it looks like that's all the rambling I have time for at this time of the morning - I have to go finish another week and a half's worth of chem homework, hopefully before 8 this morning.

'Til Next Time,

Jordan Nielson

Time flies... when you're in school?

It may just be me, but it seems like time always goes so much faster when I'm in school than whenever I'm at home doing nothing. That's probably because if I'm at home that usually means I'm not being productive which leads to... I dunno, time going slowly? Anyway, it's been 2 weeks already since I last posted on here. I'm not sure if that's necessarily a bad thing, but there's definitely been a lot going on - the journal I recently started could attest to that.

Anyway, it's been a super crazy bit of time since I last posted on here with a ton of eventful life-changing events happening.

Farthest back, and probably most relevant at the moment is that my good friend passed away twelve days ago. It's been a tough little while, although her funeral service was fantastic. The spirit was super strong, the choir was phenomenal, and those who spoke truly spoke from their hearts. It was also nice to be able to go to the grave dedication, and to be able to support my friend as he goes through this tough time. I don't know about everyone else, but it's been kinda tough for me to pick up with school and keep going with that recently. For one because of my friend, and missing her presence, but also because...

I GOT MY MISSION CALL!!!!!

Anyway, yeah. I'm going to Oklahoma Oklahoma City!
I get the awesome privilege to speak English... and I leave in less than 3 months.

But yeah, aside from that and trying to keep up with school as other things come up has kept my life pretty interesting.

On another note, my tennis classes started recently and my coach is absolutely awesome. He's super chill, and I don't think I'm going to regret in the slightest having eight hours of class with him a week.

Anyway... I guess if you wanna know more about what's been going on... you could try and get me to let you read my journal, but that isn't likely to happen. Better off if you call me and try and pry it out of me with questions ;)

'Til Next Time,
Jordan