September 3rd, 2013 - Surprise! Yay for Holidays!

Hey Everyone!

I know you weren't expecting an email from me today... but because yesterday was Labor Day and the library was closed we have to email today! Hopefully that doesn't throw off too many people's weeks...

Anyway, this last week was pretty good! We got to see a ton of people, and I've gotten to learn to work with a new person. Changing companions is definitely interesting, especially because you spend the majority of your time with each one getting used to how he does things - just to switch it up when you get a new one. 

So the highlights of the week! This week was pretty chill in most cases, we got to visit with and make contact with quite a few people, including most of our investigators and a good deal of the less actives on our side of the ward. Something we've really been focusing on a lot is working with the people we have - investigators and less actives - to get them to church. From what we've seen so far it's been successful as people are understand and recognizing the importance of coming to church, along with the fact they need to be reading from the Book of Mormon. We had a pretty sweet meeting yesterday focused almost entirely on that - getting people to do the small and simple things (Church, Read, Obey, and Pray). 

Another cool thing this week that was brought up again was the 17 points of the true church (as well as the 42 evidences of Christ's true church). They're basically a list of points that are found in the Bible that Christ's church must have in order to really be his church. One of our members brought it up with an investigator we've been teaching regarding how he needs to decide for himself which church is true. The cool thing was the member that brought it up was raised a Methodist, which is what the investigator is(was). So, they were able to connect there and they both mentioned how there are quite a few similarities between the two faiths. 

Anyway, my favorite part of these emails is the chance I get to reflect upon my studies for the week and try and share something that will uplift you guys, so that's what I get to do now. 

So this week my studies were kind of all over the place - focusing on things from Revelation, to common consent, to repentance, to the importance of callings. So, some scriptures from that:

• D&C 24:9
• Acts 15:6, 24-25
• 2 Nephi 4:15-35
• D&C 27:2
• 2 Nephi 8:24
• Acts 16:4-5, 25
• D&C 28
• 1 Nephi 16:29
• Moroni 6:4
• Romans 10:17
• D&C 130:21-22
• Moroni 10:3-5
• Helaman 3:35
• D&C 93:21-23
• 3 Nephi 17

From all these scriptures what you get is definitely related to how much you apply it to yourself, so try it! That's where the majority of my learning has been coming from - that crucial step of taking a scripture and figuring out ways that it is relevant to you right now.

Well, that's all I got for this week! 

Hopefully you all have an excellent week :)

Love,

Elder Nielson

August 26th, 2013

Hey Everyone,

I couldn't think of a decent subject for this week... so you get the lame cop-out subject.

But, this week has definitely been pretty exciting! I finally got to eat something decently weird - deep fried elk... It was super tasty!

Anyway, this week was pretty exciting... the first thing of note being that we got lost on the way to transfers! We ended up getting on the 40 instead of the 240... and it definitely made a huge difference in where we ended up! I've learned the importance of making sure your directions are accurate now ;)

Another cool thing that happened this week was more ironic than anything. We had been trying for about a week to catch one of the people we visit with, and had no luck thus far. So, on Tuesday we went and tried her again but, after knocking three time nobody answered. We wrote her a note, stuck it in her door and headed towards the car. We were in the car about to leave when - much to our surprise - she walked around the house from the back yard! She said that she had gone out the back door and ended up locking it behind her... so she had been outside while we were knocking. Luckily for us, she walked around just before we were leaving and we got to visit with her finally... then to top it all off she made it to church this week! It was super awesome!

In addition to that awesomeness, we got to start teaching this super awesome family! We had run into the father outside a few weeks ago, but with school starting and sports and such they had been super busy all the time. We finally caught them at home when they had a minute, and he was super interested! It's neat to see how Heavenly Father is always preparing people to hear His gospel, because his wife had grown up as a member, but when she turned 18 or so stopped going. So, it was neat to be able to hear her outlook on things as well, and it really helped him understand it more. 

On a random note... I was about 3 feet from a possum a couple days ago. It had ended up in a less active sister's trash can, and we got to have the fun experience of getting it out! It was exciting because it really didn't want to be forced out of the trash can for some reason... and so we eventually had to kind of throw it out by swinging the trash can back and forth.

Onto studies super fast -

• D&C 17:8
• Acts 9:15
• Acts 9:40
• Matthew 11:28-30
• Acts 10:20
• Acts 10:34
• 1 Nephi 22:3
• Matthew 12:12
• Matthew 12:25-26
• 2 Nephi 1:21
• 2 Nephi 2:11
• 2 Nephi 2:28
• D&C 22:2
• Matthew 13:26

I would put some thoughts with those... but I think this week you can ponder them yourselves ;) There should be something there for just about everyone... but one of the coolest things I've been learning has focused on the impact of Agency in Heavenly Father's plan for each of us, so as you're going through those scriptures try looking for agency! (They don't all have something to do with it, but you can try ;) )

So, that's the deets for the week! 'Til next time!

Love,

Elder Nielson

August 19th, 2013 - Another Transfer has gone...?!?!?

Hey Everyone!

This week has been super awesome! Just a few notable things for this week though, starting with Monday night.

So, Monday night we went to see the family of a guy that we had met about a month or two before, and since then he had gotten hurt pretty badly at work. His legs were burned pretty severely, but the awesome thing was that just about a month after it happened he was already walking! It was a miracle, because instead of having to spend a month or so in rehab he was already back home, it was super neat! 

Another cool thing that happened this week was trainer's meeting... but for our companions. So, half our district is training next transfer (Elders Glad, Roundy, and Rasmuson) so on Wednesday they headed to the trainer's meeting down in the city. That meant the other 3 of us (Elders Prewitt and Spafford, along with me) got to work up here in Ponca City and Blackwell. It was neat, because I got to meet some of the people they're working with and one of them stuck out to me. We got to go visit with a fellow in a rehab center (for like drugs and such) and he's super awesome. His wife is meeting with the missionaries down in the city, and he's super prepared. He's been reading the Book of Mormon everyday, and even been introducing some of the other people there to it! It's neat to see how it changes people's perspective on life, because he's gone from seeing his time there as a prison of sorts to instead seeing it as a chance to change and prepare to be a better person. He's planning on getting baptized once he gets out! 

Another cool thing was church yesterday. So, we usually have about 90 or so people there, but this week we had over 125! It was awesome to see the chapel almost full, and to almost need that extra water tray they always prepare. It was especially neat because both sides (East and West) had a decent amount of people there through their efforts. It was cool to see the fruits of obedience and hard work shown to the ward. The talks were on temples and the 3 basic aspects of the church - Missionary Work, Temple work, and the work of Keeping Members active and progressing. It was super awesome, because it pretty much explained a lot about eternal families and why the church is so awesome :)

Alright, so that's the main stuff from this week, aside from the awesome studies I've been having. I recently got some advice from another missionary on how he does his studies, and I really liked it and started applying it this week. So, first some scriptures:

• Acts 3:6 - You can only give what you have, and that's all that you're asked to do
• 1 Nephi 14:10 - There are only 2 churches
• Matthew 4:3,6 - The main temptation Satan gave Christ was related to his role as the Son of God
• Acts 4:20 - You should only talk about what you know or believe (seen and heard)
• 1 Nephi 16:29 - An outline for receiving revelation (see this month's Ensign for a cool article on it: http://www.lds.org/ensign/2013/08/a-new-writing?lang=eng )
• D&C 9:8-9 - More on revelation :)
• D&C 10:4 - Do all you can do, but it is not requisite that you should do more than you have strength given you
• 1 Nephi 17:51 - The Lord can do all things through faith (see 1 Nephi 7:12)
• Matthew 5:29-30 - What you see and do impacts all aspects of your life, and is something you need to watch carefully
• Matthew 6:19-21 - Treasure!
• D&C 14:9 - Christ introduced -> What is your introduction?
• Acts 8:17 - Laying on of Hands for the Gift of the Holy Ghost necessary
• 1 Nephi 20:1 vs Isaiah 48:1 - Importance of Baptism
• Matthew 9:2 - Be of Good cheer when you repent and receive forgiveness
• 3 Nephi 17:2-3 -> A way to learn more from the scriptures

Alright, so this week I spent a little more time in the New Testament than previous weeks, and it was super awesome. I really like the New Testament, because it really does show us how we need to live our lives. I also spent some time studying the Sermon on the Mount that Christ gives in Matthew 5-7. It's interesting to study that, because a lot of it is the new law, and it's cool to see the similarities and differences between Matthew 5-7 and 3 Nephi 12-14.

So, regarding the Sermon on the mount - a few cool things I noticed/learned:

• The new law emphasizes the importance of your thoughts and how those lead to words and actions, while the old law was action based
• There are some things that should be done in secret, because Heavenly Father sees everything, while men don't need to
• Laying up treasures in Heaven requires us to follow Christ, and some treasures are things that are Eternal such as Knowledge, the Word  of God, and Faith in Christ.
• Because the light of the body is the eye (Matt 6:22), and we learn from D&C 84:85 that: "For the word of the Lord is truth, and whatsoever is truth is light, and whatsoever is light is Spirit, even the Spirit of Jesus Christ." So, the light of our Body is our spirit, and also we learn the Word of the Lord (truth) through reading and studying it. It's pretty cool to think about how much our eyes really do impact our spirit...
• The Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12 is said to be "The law and the prophets." What I got from that was how important it is for disciples of Christ to treat people as Christ would, because as you do that you obey the law and follow the teachings of the Prophets to draw you closer to Heavenly Father

 Alright... so that's a lot longer than I thought it would be. Oh well!

That's all I got for this week, hopefully you enjoyed it a little bit :)

Love,

Elder Jordan Nielson

August 12th, 2013 - August... with October Weather?!?

Hey Everyone,
This is Spencer A. Nielson and here is Jordan's new blog! For those of you who are wondering how this happens Jordan emails me what he wants me to post and then I post it. It is pretty magical. Also there is food involved in this one as well. (I am noticing a trend here....) 
-Spencer A. Nielson
Hey Everyone!

So the talk of all the people here in Ponca City seems to be that the weather this summer has been absolutely gorgeous! We've had a summer that seems to have taken a page from Florida... as it's rained most days and that's kept it out of the triple digit heat for the majority of the summer. It's been super nice! Anyway, it's the second week of August and it's like 80 degrees outside right now... while last year it was about 110. So that's a nice difference :)

So this last week! It was pretty awesome week over all, even though our numbers didn't show it... people still get to make their own choices, and we just try to do all we can. But this last week a few really cool things happened!

For one, a family that we've been teaching for a while now finally let us inside their house! After being at the Sunday School lesson on service they decided to allow someone to help them clean their house who needed a little extra cash. So, they got their house clean for the first time since I've been here! It was a way different spirit being able to be inside away from the distractions of living on a busy street and being on the porch. We got to have family prayer and scripture study with them that night to get them started off, and they seem to be doing it most nights now! It's super awesome when people recognize the difference putting God first makes.

Another cool experience this week happened with food - again? Yep again. We got fed dinner Monday - Saturday, and even got fed lunch two of those days. It was super awesome... and saved us a ton of money as the food we bought last week is still good for this week :) It's been neat to see the members step up to having to feed twice as many missionaries and see them feed us more than they used to feed just one set of elders. 

Another interesting thing this week is moving. We've been helping a lot of people move recently, and something I've learned is just how much they appreciate it. One couple that we helped move had a lot of bigger furniture - like 2 couches, a couple big chairs, etc - and just the extra hands made those couple hours of moving so much more effective than they would have been. It is always neat to see the difference between when you get there and when you leave and how empty it is. It's also nice because they usually give us some food when we help them ;)

In other news, I got the weirdest food as of yet picked out. We finally got some deep fried food this week, and the guy deep fried Okra, Cucumbers, and Squash. It was all super tasty, as deep fried food usually is, but that's the most exotic food we've had yet ;)

Another cool thing this week was how often we randomly met with people versus how often we met with people we had appointments with. I think this is the first week where most of our appointments stayed good and we actually met with more people during scheduled times than we did just randomly catching them. It's been neat to see the impact keeping daily contact with people has, as that's something that we've been striving to do. I kind of like relating it to keeping in touch with your parents or boss at work or something. The more often you touch base with them, the more likely they are to respond quickly or let you know if something changes because that line of communication is already open. It's also like that with our Heavenly Father, because as we keep praying to him more often he's more able to talk to us and guide us to do what we need to.

Anyway, because I'm starting to get all spiritual on y'all we're going to move over to studies and what I've been learning this week!

Something I've really focused my studies on this week is prayer and examples. So, first some scriptures that I've based my studies off of this week:

-> Alma 37:36-37

-> Mosiah 2:19-21

-> Mosiah 26:39

-> Alma 23:7

-> Alma 27:27

-> Mosiah 4:30

-> D&C 4:5

Alright so basing off of those scriptures, some things I've learned. One of the coolest things I've learned is the importance of giving thanks through prayer. In a few of those scriptures it discusses what we give thanks to God for, and why it's so important so that's really something that I've been working on - giving thanks to God for all that he does for me, and being specific when doing so. I've also learned that examples are powerful tools. In Alma 23:7 it talks about laying down your weapons of war, and when you relate it to Alma 27:27 and what their example was later, it's pretty cool to see the impact that has. A key part of being an example though is being a good example, and Mosiah4:30 tells us pretty clearly what we need to do for that. It's neat to go through a verse and look up the footnotes and relate that to questions you may have, so give it a try with that verse. The footnotes are really awesome, so check em out.

Anyway, that's all I got for this week!

Love,

Elder Nielson

August 5th, 2013 - August... Where did summer go?!?

Hey Everyone,
Spencer here and here is another fantastic blog post from my brother. Enjoy reading!

Hey Everyone!

So it's already August... and kids here go back to school next week! I can't believe that summer break is already over... but such is life when you don't really have a break! I can relate a little bit more to those adults who work through the summer now... it's such a short time that they aren't in school that it doesn't even really make an impact in the long run to those of us without one...

Anyway, this week was pretty great! I'm going to go backwards this week... because yesterday was awesome and I wanna talk about it :P

So yesterday, Sunday, we had church and there were sooo many people there! The ward usually averages about 90, but there was 105 this week! It was awesome! The bishop was so shocked to see so many people that it was really quite impressive. There were 8 of our investigators there, which was super awesome because they all had a great time. It was neat to hear their thoughts on fast and testimony meeting - they all said they liked it for the most part, and luckily we didn't get any 20 minute testimonies this week! Then last night we got to visit with some of the awesome people we teach, and they were all making huge steps in the right direction! One couple decided they wanted to pray about the Book of Mormon to know if it's true - because they recognized it was important, and they told us they hadn't done so yet. Another couple, after we showed them they could listen to the Book of Mormon online (he's dyslexic) told us they would listen to it everyday! Then we got to watch Finding Faith in Christ (a super awesome video about the ministry of Christ - look it up if you haven't heard of it) with another family and they said it really helped them realize the importance of believing even if they can't see. It was neat, because he then asked us what he had to do before he could be baptized, so that was awesome!

On Saturday we got to visit with someone I hadn't seen for a few weeks, which was really awesome. We got to read 1 Nephi 13 with him, and he made a ton of really neat observations about it. It was cool to listen to him figure out what it was talking about himself and not really have to explain it to him! That might just be me... but I really like it when people learn for themselves :P

Friday was a blur, as we basically worked the entire day! We had one of the awesome zone leaders with us, and it was great to hear his testimony and watch how he interacted with people and learn from him. I learned a ton about how important it is to really focus on the people we're visiting with and not worry about getting through a lesson or anything. It was also neat to be able to see a few people that we hadn't really been able to visit with for a few weeks - including a few less active members - and see their testimonies grow.

The miracle for Thursday was the miracle of the couch. So, on Monday a couple that was being taught down in Stillwater moved up here to Ponca. But, we hadn't been able to visit with them as of yet. But Thursday afternoon, we went and saw one of our awesome investigators who is sadly moving to New Mexico at the end of the month, and he told us to find someone who needed a couch as he was giving his away (he's only taking what he can drive down with in his little car). After that, we were able to catch the couple that recently moved in, and when we asked them how we could help them - after a brief moment of hesitation - they asked about furniture. We brought up that we had just had someone offer a couch, and they were super excited! It was neat to see that the Lord works to make sure all of his children are taken care of.

On Wednesday, we had pretty much all of our afternoon appointments fall thorugh, so we were pretty discouraged... but, after having dinner with one of the most awesome families in our ward we headed back out with the motivation we needed to make sure the rest of our week was successful! It was cool to have the chance to visit with them and share a message to help build their faith which in turn built our confidence in what we were striving to do. That evening, even though we didn't really get to visit with anyone, we were able to set up the appointments we needed for the rest of the week!

On Tuesday... we had temple conference! It was super awesome to finally be able to go to the temple again! Foremost, I'd encourage all of those who can to go do an endowment session this week - there was a new video released last week (at least here in OKC), so I'd assume it's released everywhere now. It was really awesome, so go check it out! It really helped make the session make more sense to me, so that's always good. For temple conference, we also got to receive training from our mission President and his assistants, which was really insightful. The mission has set a goal to go from the average of 25 baptisms a month (which is what we've been doing so far) to helping 100 people make that covenant with their Heavenly Father this month. It's a pretty big jump, so we received a ton of training on how important miracles are to this work.

Anyway, that pretty much covers the week.... So some things I've been studying/learning this week! First, check out this talk:

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/2012/10/where-is-the-pavilion?lang=eng

It's a super awesome one by President Eyring that I've really been studying this week. I'd encourage all of you to go read it or watch it. In addition to that, I've been focusing my studies a little more this week on the New Testament so I'll share some thoughts from that.

First, Matthew 16 is a really awesome chapter. It discusses quite a few things, but I'd just like to point out a few. First, in verse 17 Christ tells us that the only way we can know that he is our Savior is to receive that knowledge from heavenly Father through the Holy Ghost. So, revelation is the only way to know that he was indeed our Savior. My thought with that is mainly that just as Peter learned for himself, we each need to find out for ourselves who Jesus Christ is and what impact that has on our lives. We find that out the same way we come to know if the Book of Mormon is true - by praying to Heavenly Father with a sincere heart, real intent, and faith in Christ. So, I'd encourage you to find out for yourself regarding both the Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ, because they really do go hand in hand.

Another thing I've been learning about is related to Acts 3-4. In these chapters Peter and John heal a man who had been lame from birth and each day was taken to the temple to ask alms. In chapter 4 verse 22 it tells us that this man was over 40 years old, and we learned in verse 2 of chapter 3 that each day he was taken to the temple. So, a member of the bishopric last week pointed out that would mean that Christ passed by him numerous times... but this miracle was reserved for Peter and John to build their faith. Much like that, there are many things that are reserved for each of us that we have been foreordained to accomplish here in this life. Along that same line of thought though, that doesn't mean we're supposed to leave people suffering so that someone else can help them. We are still commanded to help those who we come into contact with in whatever way we can, so this doesn't get you off the hook because you don't know what you've specifically been foreordained to do. Anyway, think about it.

But, that's about it for this week! I hope you all have a fabulous week!

Love,

Elder Jordan Nielson

July 29th, 2013 - The Chronicles of Elder Nielson Continue!

Hey all, 

Spencer here, and here is another fantastic blog by my brother. He kinda talks about food more than usual in this one.... Enjoy reading

Hey Everyone!

This week has been pretty great! We had an awesome meeting last Monday, some awesome visits throughout the week, an impressive amount of food fed to us, tons of reading from the Book of Mormon, and some great chances to serve! 

On Monday we had a Specialized Training Meeting, and we discussed the first great commandment - to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." We discussed ways that we show God our love for him - such as keeping his commandments and "feeding his sheep" (aka helping his children). It was awesome to hear the insights of the other missionaries on such an important commandment.

Then on Tuesday we had some pretty sweet visits with people and one in particular stood out to me. We visited with a couple and read 1 Nephi 8 with them - the Tree of Life vision - and it was cool to recognize how important it is for us to expound scriptures to people when they don't understand them or have the Holy Ghost themselves. It was neat to have the Holy Ghost there to explain to them how that vision applied to their life and how they can better feast upon the fruit of the tree. Since then, they've actually been reading from the Book of Mormon most days, which is a huge improvement! 

On Wednesday we got to meet a lot of less actives that we had never even seen before - a couple of which we had tried but had never before gotten to talk to. It was neat to see how people still know that the Book of Mormon is true even after years of not coming to church for one reason or another.

On Thursday we had a sweet miracle in that on our dinner calendar nobody was signed up, but we ended up being fed lunch as well as dinner by members! It was awesome, because one of the less active members came out teaching with us and then afterward for lunch his wife  fed us spaghetti (she isn't a member)! Then before dinner we were helping a member's sister move, and then afterward they bought us dinner, and it was pretty awesome!

On Saturday got to visit with a single sister, and she was mowing her lawn when we got there. We asked if we could mow for her, and she actually let us! She was the first person to say yes to that, and I was super glad because otherwise we wouldn't have been able to talk to her - and we'd been trying to catch her for over 2 weeks at that point. I got to mow while my companion talked with her. She told him that she appreciated the little bit of help we gave her (we only had about 15 or 20 minutes), and I was glad that I got to finally mow someone's lawn (or part of it)! Also on Saturday, we ended up being fed dinner twice... as one of our appointments in the later end of the evening also fed us (as they had just finished cooking for their family and knew we were coming so they made a little extra). It was awesome! I love food... kind of a lot. 

Anyway, that's about our week! Some cool things I've noticed while reading through the Book of Mormon (I still have about 80 pages or so to read before Wednesday night), are listed below :)

• Alma 5:15 -> You need to look forward with an "eye of Faith" towards better things to come
• Alma 7:17,24
• Alma 9:20 -> Desires + Faith + Prayer  => Knowledge
• Alma 15:18
• Alma 20:26
• Alma 27:27 -> They were distinguished for their zeal towards God
• Alma 30:34 -> No paid clergy in Christ's church
• Alma 33:22-23
• Alma 34:8 -> Testify of myself that these things are true
• Alma 37:33-34
• Alma 41:12 -> What it means to restore something (referring to the Atonement)
• Alma 45:17
• Alma 46:15 -> Faithful disciples willingly called "Christians" :)
• Alma 48:9
• Alma 57:26-27
• Helaman 1:26 -> You can't afford to assume the adversary won't strike the center. Someone once asked me what I would do if one of the Apostles fell away from the church, so what would you do?
• Helaman 5:30
• Helaman 8:15
• 3 Nephi 4:31 -> Importance of Hymns, even back then!
• 3 Nephi 6:20

Alright, so that's the word for the week! Thanks for reading it!

With Love,

Elder Jordan Nielson

July 22nd, 2013 - Short and Sweet?

Hey Everyone,
Spencer here and even though I am sometimes lazy with this blog here is the newest post from Elder Nielson! Honestly I kinda like to call him that even if he is my brother... :P It is what it is. Anyway enjoy reading!(It is quite short compared to the others)

Hey Everyone!

This week... like all the others... has flown by! I can't believe it's already monday again! It's been a super crazy week here, with exchanges, interviews, finding out about upcoming events, and visiting tons of people!

First on my list of things to talk about is that I finally got to meet an investigator! He's been someone that they met before I got here, and we'd try him on occasion whenever we were up that way - which seemed like 5/7 days we were - and we could never catch him. He works on installing sprinkler systems, and so he works pretty long hours. But, we were able to catch him on Monday and I finally met him after not getting to for an entire transfer! It showed me that persistence really does make a huge difference as we were able to have a really awesome visit with him. 

The next cool thing on my list is the generosity of people here. On Friday I forgot to put my camelbak - I had already filled it - in my backpack. So, when we went on exchanges I didn't have it with me! It was pretty terrible to not have any water, but the people were so nice! We ended up getting water from like 4 different people, so I never ended up getting dehydrated! It was awesome :)

The next thing on my list... it's another persistence example. Go figure. We went to visit a less active sister for an appointment, but she wasn't home. I was on an exchange, so I didn't know much about the area and what had been worked, so when we realized she wasn't home I asked if we had ever knocked her neighbor. It turned out that they hadn't, and when we did she told us she was super interested in learning more about our message! They were supposed to see her a couple nights later, so we'll findout how that went. But, it was an example of persistence as well, because later that night we were passing by on our way home and we noticed that the less active's truck was there. We stopped by to see if she was home, and we were able to share our message with her that we had planned to earlier in the day. It was awesome! Even if it's a bit stalker ish... but that's what happens when we bike the same routes each day as they're the fastest ones to where we need to go.

Then yesterday, the elders in Ponca City were given the opportunity to speak in sacrament! We were asked to talk about our conversion stories, but I also used some quotes from Elder Holland's talk "Lord, I believe" and Elder Robbins' talk "What manner of men and women ought ye to be". They're both pretty awesome, and the ward said our talks were great :) You should all go check out those two talks though... they're really quite good. 

Alrighty, that's about the highlights of the week, so here's a quick list of scriptures for your studying pleasure.

• 1 Nephi 10:17
• 1 Nephi 13:24
• 2 Nephi 11:8
• 2 Nephi 24:23-24
• 2 Nephi 26:33
• 2 Nephi 27:23
• 2 Nephi 33:14
• Jacob 5:70
• Enos 1:6-8
• Omni 1:1 -> Importance of Genealogy ;)
• Omni 1:26
• Mosiah 4:11
• Mosiah 16:8
• Mosiah 21:15
• Mosiah 23:8

Alright, so I would put some thoughts with those... but I don't have time this week, so you're just going to have to look them up and figure out why I sent them ;)

This week I'm starting to add some New Testament time into my studies, so for those who aren't too keen on the Book of Mormon - which you all should be ;) - will get those next week.

I think that's all for this week, sorry it's short, but I don't have as much time as I would like here :P

Love,

Elder Jordan Nielson

July 15th, 2013 - ... Wait a second! That's 2 months!

Hey Everyone!

So, I realized this morning that it's been 2 months since I entered the MTC, and it has flown by... Looking back I'm not entirely sure where the 2 months went... or what even happened. But anyway, this week has been a blur to say the least. It seems like all I can remember doing is walking inside, planning, going to sleep, waking up and planning again?

So, like I said, this week has been a blur. I don't have the planner from this week - as it's a new transfer and therefore a new planner - so we're going off my memory, which is a bit sketchy. 

The first cool thing that happened this week was that we started teaching this awesome part-member family. Ace and Sherry are quite awesome, and Sherry hasn't really been to church since she was baptized at 8 and Ace has never been. It's been super awesome to be able to see the impact that learning the gospel has on them. It was awesome for him to hear the plan of happiness, and he said that it had never been presented so simply or directly before on what his purpose in life his, where he came from, or where we go after this life. It was awesome to help him recognize how important that plan is and the impact it can have on his family! 

Another cool miracle happened last night, when we had run out of people planned to visit. They were all not there or unable to talk with us at that time, so at about 8:15 our list of people to try had run out. So, we said a prayer and the first name that came to our mind was a potential that we had tracted into a couple weeks ago, and hadn't been able to contact since. So, we went and knocked at the house he was living at when we found him, and it turned out that he doesn't live there anymore. The lady who lives there told us that he had a fit and left, so she's back to living there with her 3 kids. The coolest part was that the lady had moved down from Wichita a couple months ago, and up there had been visiting with the elders. It was super awesome, because she had googled where the church was at and even told us that they came up for the 3rd hour! We didn't actually see them, but she said her kids and her went to the last hour of primary and they were learning the song "Follow the Prophet". It was super cool as they had been reviewing that song and singing it just 10 minutes before we got there, and from what she said it sounded like we were an answer to her prayers as she was looking to get back into contact with the missionaries!

Another interesting thing this week was helping an older member of the ward move. I don't think I had ever seen her at church, but the 4 elders of the ward and 4 other members were there helping her. It was one of the most interesting moves I've ever helped with, as she had so much random stuff that she wanted to keep as she's an artist and a writer. So, most of the stuff she had to sort through while we were there and it didn't feel like we got as much done as we could have in the 2.5 hours of helping her. But, such is life when people aren't prepared or packed to move and they need to see everything before packing it away ;) My companion's take on it was a lot different than mine, as he was helping her sort through the stuff a lot more than as I was - I was basically just carrying stuff to the truck and walking back. 

 So I think that's the cool experiences of the week... so that means I get to talk about scriptures right? Sweet! I actually remembered my study journal, so this is going to be a little more organized. I picked out a list of scriptures this week, and I've been reading a lot so it's fairly long. 

So this list is basically just going to be the scripture, and if I feel like my thought was exceedingly profound I'll share that. Otherwise it's scriptures that I think might be good for y'all to look up/think about!

• 3 Nephi 14:20
• 3 Nephi 18:19,21 - We are commanded to pray alone and as families, so do it, please?
• 3 Nephi 20:40
• 3 Nephi 27:8 - If it be Christ's church it will be called in his name, so why are churches called by anything else if they are Christ's?
• Mormon 7:8-9
• Mormon 8:34-35
• Ether 2:14 - As you call upon the Lord in times of peace, as well as in times of need, he blesses and prospers you
• Ether 4:12
• Ether 6:9
• Ether 8:26
• Ether 12:4
• Moroni 1:2-3 - What would you think if we lived in a world where those around you would kill you if you wouldn't deny Christ? 
• Moroni 8:10-12
• 1 Nephi 4:13
• 1 Nephi 6:5 - The things Nephi writes will be pleasing to those who are not of the world, and it applies to the entire Book of Mormon

So that's the list for this week, if you have questions about any of those scriptures, send me an email and I'll let ya know what it was on the list or try to answer your question!

I think that's it for this week, so I hope you all are doing well!

Love,

Elder Nielson

July 8th, 2013 - First transfer complete. Ponca city now on overdrive

Hey everyone it's spencer here(as always now) and here is Jordan's latest blog post so enjoy!

Hey Everyone!

This week has absolutely flown by... I can't believe July 4th has already passed! But, this first transfer is just about over - but I get to stay here in Ponca City with Elder Rasmuson! So, we're going to kick Ponca City into overdrive this transfer, and our goal is to work as well with the Bishop and Ward Mission Leader as possible. 

Anyway, this awesome week has flown by with some great lessons, incredible miracles, sweet studies, awesome meetings, and fantastic people! 

So we'll start with the great lessons... We've taught a couple people the Plan of Salvation this week, and it's been super awesome to hear some of the questions people have and the hope that they receive as they recognize how many questions that awesome Plan answers. We taught this awesome younger couple on Monday about the plan, and it was super cool with them to see how they recognized the changes it could bring to their family. Then on Friday we taught the Plan of Salvation to a minister for another church and it was interesting to see the differences on our perspectives on that awesome plan. When we were teaching that lesson we were on exchanges though, so I got to lead out that one and help focus it on his needs. It was pretty sweet to be able to do that for the first time! Also on Friday we got to teach the Word of Wisdom - still on exchanges - and the Elder I was on exchanges with hadn't really taught it before either. It was still a great lesson as it was pretty much just us testifying of the benefits it has brought to us and the member that was with us (who was Baptized in January and had been chewing until about then) helped a ton. 

Then there's the incredible miracles that we've seen this week! One of my favorites from this week was with our Bishop. So, a family we have been teaching for a little while now that's been to church the last few sundays has been having car troubles for the last week or so. They found out Saturday that the car battery was the issue and we visited them Saturday night with the Bishop. In a sweet act of charity - nobody asked him to, and the idea hadn't even occurred to anyone else - he volunteered to go up to Auto zone for them and exchange the part that they had thought was the issue and figure out if the battery really was the issue. He came back instead with a new battery, and wouldn't let them pay him back. It really showed me a good example of how kind people here are to their neighbors, and it helped us recognize how awesome our bishop is (not like we didn't already know it... but it was increased quite a bit). We had a super cool experience yesterday - a miracle even - when we visited a fellow named Clarence. We taught him the restoration, and he received it incredibly well. He brought up the point where if he wasn't interested in our message, or if he didn't trust that we would tell him the truth he wouldn't have even let us in, so it was cool to see how willing he was to believe in our testimonies. Something I've been working on myself is recognizing spiritual gifts - in myself and others - and he really does have that gift of believing the testimony of others, it was neat to see how quickly he was willing to read from the Book of Mormon and find out from himself, but he also stated multiple times that he already believed it was true based on our testimonies and that fact that it talks of Christ.

In addition to those sweet lessons and miracles, I've been learning a ton in my studies! Since my last email to you guys, I've read through Alma 36 - 3 Nephi 10, and picked I think a scripture from each of those chapters that has stuck out to me. A couple of my favorites - and the insight I had with them - are following:

• Alma 37:35-37 -> These verses have been a great help to me as I've grown up in the church and the counsel from Alma is priceless to counsel with the Lord in all they doings and to learn the commandments in thy youth so that you can align your will with his.
• Alma 40:11-13 -> These verses discuss the state of a soul between death and the resurrection, and it's pretty cool to have a clear and simple knowledge about that when so many people don't
• 46:12,16 -> These verses involve two different titles - the Title of Liberty and the title, or name, of Christian given to those who believe in Christ. Something that stuck out to me was that both titles still apply today, and are something to rejoice in and strive to be worthy of.
• Alma 48:17 -> This scripture has always hit me pretty hard, as it reinforces the concept that Satan only has control of us so far as we let him, and if nobody were to let him control them then the very powers of Hell would be shaken. It's pretty cool to think about ;)
• Alma 56:46 -> From this verse I recognized that the reason why you do something is almost as important as actually doing it. It reminded me of the principle Christ taught about being someone who does something for the praise of men or to draw nearer to God.
• Helaman 5:9-12 -> This was our scripture of the week last week, and something I really love about it is how this counsel from a parent to a child influenced them many years after Helaman's death, and how that eventually impacted thousands of Lamanites.
• Helaman 14:11-13 -> These verses showed me the purpose of prophets in a pretty simple and distinct way.
• 3 Nephi 1:20 -> This verse shows that the words of the Prophets will always be fulfilled... so listen to them
• 3 Nephi 3:7 -> I've heard of some missionaries who mistake and use this scripture instead of 1 Nephi 3:7... so consider the impact that might have on an investigator ;)
• 3 Nephi 7:15-26 -> It stuck out to me how it took more than a year of miraculous things happening through Nephi for people to recognize that he was a man of God, but it eventually lead to many people being baptized

So that pretty much sums up some of the awesome studies I've had this last week - it's pretty sweet... I'm trying to finish reading the Book of Mormon before the end of this week (this transfer basically), so I think I can do it if I keep this pace up. But, we have definitely had some awesome meetings in addition to all that other stuff going on. For one, our new mission President - President Walkenhorst - did a mission tour and stopped by our zoneon Thursday morning. He is a pretty awesome guy - and just about 7 feet tall... like literally. It's kind of crazy how tall he is. But aside from that he is incredibly spiritual. Something he really focused on while he was here was that we are his "Fellow servants in Christ" and because of that we all have the same purpose - to Invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel. He really emphasized that our God is still a God of Miracles, as stated in Mormon9:15 (and quite a few other scriptures). He gave us a pretty good chain to use in relation to that: 

1 Nephi 17:50,51 -> 2 Nephi 26:12,13 -> 2 Nephi 27:23 -> Alma 23:6 -> Mormon 9:11 -> 3 Nephi 8:1 -> Mormon 9:15 -> Ether 12:9-24 -> Moroni 7:27-40

He also talked about the importance of having Virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly (D&C 121:44,45) and how that will give you the confidence to call upon God for miracles. The cool thing is that it can also apply in life in general - not just missionary work. As long as you stay obedient to the commandments of God and work hard, he will bless you with the miracles that are according to his will.

Anyway, that's about it for this week! I hope you are all doing fabulous, and I  really do hope you enjoyed reading through this and that it uplifted you in some way...

Love,

Elder Jordan Nielson

July 1st, 2013... ALREADY?!??

hey everyone it is spencer and i hope you all are enjoying your summers. here is jordan's new blog post so enjoy.
-spencer a. nielson

Hey Everyone, 

I looked at my watch this morning and saw that it was the first of the month... and I got thrown off a bit by the fact that June is already over! Who knew?! I'm super excited for this month, as this week should start it off fabulously!

We heard today that our new mission president - who I haven't actually met yet - is letting us stay out until 10pm on the 4th in order to watch some fireworks, so that should be super exciting! I'm probably going to be super tired the next day, but such is the way things go.

Anyway, so this week absolutely flew by. It seems like just yesterday I was emailing y'all, so we're going to treat it like that and touch on the highlights. For one, one of our super solid investigators came to church yesterday. He said that he enjoyed Sacrament meeting, and he is developing a friendship with a super awesome member in our ward. It's great to see his willingness to change, and hopefully he'll stay interested. 

Another cool thing that happened this week was that I got to have two exchanges! The first one was from Thursday to Friday, and it was with an elder serving on the other side of Ponca city. It was pretty interesting to have two missionaries working together when both have been out for about a month... but that's how it played out. We had quite a few miracles on that day, not the least of which was the multitude of times people gave us water. It was super impressive how nice the people are to us, and I was incredibly grateful for the water as the temperature got over 110 degrees at one point in the day. 

On the next exchange, from Friday to Saturday, one of the zone leaders came out with my companion and I and he taught us so much! One of the key things I gained experience and confidence in was the power of the Book of Mormon! It was incredible to see the differences that carrying it in your hands makes, as people are then able to ask you about it and it makes it so much less awkward to talk about it. Also, we met quite a few solid potential families that day and I was able to go on splits! So the difference between splits and exchanges real fast - splits are when there's 4 missionaries/members working in an area and they split up, while exchanges are where you switch companions for about 24 hours. Anyway, during the exchange - as we had an extra missionary - we also had a 17 year old member of about 3 months come out teaching with us. So, we decided for most of the evening to go on splits. I went with the 17 year old, and my companion and the zone leader went off teaching. It was definitely a cool experience - and one that built our faith a ton - to have a missionary of about a month and a member of about 3 go out talking to people about the gospel. Anyway, that day we ended up placing around 20 copies of the Book of Mormon, which was a ton! 

But, one of the coolest experiences that day was when a couple that we're teaching committed to a baptismal date of August 10th! It was super cool to be able to see the excitement in their faces as they decided together to work towards that day as when they would be baptized. They've come to church the last 4 weeks, and they have been learning a ton from that and meeting the members of the ward. It's been super cool to see how they've changed from when we started teaching them to now, as they have started reading from the Book of Mormon and also as they've attended church as a family. It's been neat to see their faith grow and how inviting and friendly the members have been to them. 

Anyway, that's about all the cool experiences from this week, so now I get to talk about what I've been learning during the awesome time that we have to study! 

This week I've really been emphasizing the teachings of Alma, as I've read about 30 chapters of Alma - from chapter 7 to chapter 35. There's so much great material in those chapters, that I'm not quite sure what to pick out. I'm not sure if anyone used the links I included in the last email, so I'm gonna leave those out this time to save a bit of my time while here. So, the following is a list of scriptures that really stuck out to me this week and the thoughts I have related to them.

• Alma 7:11-16 -> This is a super cool scripture that talks about Christ and how he really can help us in everything we do and we use it a ton with pretty much everyone we meet.
• Alma 10:23 -> This is an interesting scripture, as it points out that a few righteous are able to make a huge difference among the people
• Alma 17:11 -> This has been a super good motivational scripture for me, as I've been able to recognize that their afflictions they faced were a lot worse than anything I have to deal with while trying to spread the gospel to my brothers and sisters here
• Alma 19:31-32 -> People have their agency to listen to Christ's gospel, but those who do become converted unto the Lord and are blessed
• Alma 20:4 -> This scripture has motivated me and helped teach me that of myself I really can't do or teach much of anything, but in the strength of the Lord I can do all things
• Alma 21:10 -> People have one of two reactions to the word of God - anger or a recognition that it is true
• Alma 23:7 -> a Question I asked myself in relation to this is: "What weapons do you still use to fight against God?"
• Alma 25:9 -> The scriptures show the fulfilling of the prophecies contained therein
• Alma 27:25-26 -> Stories of conversion bring much joy to those that hear and listen to them, and that's the reason for testimony meetings 
• Alma 30:44 -> One of my favorite scriptures about how there truly is a God
• Alma 31:32-36 -> The prayer of faith will lead to an abundance of the spirit
• Alma 32:40-43 -> This is an attitude that I've been working to develop as a missionary, to see people how they can become

Alright, so that's about the extent of my thoughts for this week, and I hope you all enjoy them!

Love,

Elder Nielson