#2014

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everybody!

We were able to start a pretty cool thing as a mission a couple of days ago. President Weston challenged us to read the Book of Mormon in 85 days, which was the same amount of time in which Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon. President encourages us to mark wherever the Savior is mentioned, as well as any instance where faith is mentioned or there is a trial of faith. We have only been doing it for a couple of days, but it is amazing how strong Nephi's faith was! Even when his entire family was murmuring he stayed faithful and trusted in the Lord's promise that they would prosper if they relied on him.

This past week with the holidays was pretty tough with everybody being so busy, but we are looking forward to how it is going to pick up this next week! We were able to see a really neat, simple miracle this past week. We were trying to contact a potential investigator from a couple of years ago. We went to where he lived, and a lady answered. We asked for the potential investigator, but she said that he didn't live there. We were able to talk to her for a moment, and we set up a return appointment to come back and visit with her. While we were talking to her, she reminded me of when we tracted into Kimberly and the other time when we tracted into Kelly. I know that there have been people prepared by the Lord for us to find, and we just have to go out to see where the Lord has placed them!

I didn't think I would love a place as much as I loved Citrus Heights, but Roseville is definitely right up there. I love this place! I know God prepared me for this mission, and for the individual areas that I have served in so far. I know that Heavenly Father knows me personally, and He loves all of His children unconditionally.

I am so grateful for the Atonement. I feel inadequate a lot of the time, but Christ performed that Atonement for us to be there with us every step of the way. I love knowing that I am never alone, no matter what happens.

I love you all! Good luck with the New Year's Resolutions!

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Happy Christmas, all!

Merry Christmas!

This past week was pretty crazy. We had a bunch of lessons cancel, and it was kind of tough trying to get things done. We are racking up our opposition points though, so we are looking forward to a Christmas miracle!

We had a Christmas Conference this past week, and our Mission President shared some really powerful messages about the birth of the Savior. He read the part, "...brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn." He then asked us, "Have you made room for the Savior?" I would invite you all to search your heart and ponder on how much room you have left for the Savior to fill. He won't force His way in. He will simply wait until you allow Him to fill your life with joy and love. Let's all make a bit more room for the Savior in our lives.

I know this was a short one, but I love you all. I hope you have a Merry Christmas!

Love

Elder Nielsen

Merry Christmas from Elder Nielsen and Elder Ure!

Hello everyone!

Elder Ure and I were able to have an awesome week getting to know each other and doing some good work. Elder Ure is from Roy, UT. He has been out for about 18 months now. We have been able to work well together, and we are enjoying the work!

We met with a less-active sister and her non-member daughter this past week. We were able to have the lesson at a members home, and it was a neat experience. We taught the Restoration, and then we invited the daughter to be baptized. She accepted the invitation to be baptized on January 25th, 2014! We are looking forward to helping her fully accept the Gospel in her life.

In studies this morning, I was really reflecting over how much the life and Atonement of Jesus Christ really blesses us. It was an awesome experience to be able to feel so grateful for all that He has done for us. I read an article in this month's ensign that talks about repentance, and it discussed how the world views repentance. It says that repentance is something that is so unbearable that comes because we sin. Satan really gets us to think of it this way, but I know that repentance is something that we should be grateful for! Only through repentance are we able to be cleansed and freed from our sin. We won't have to be burdened by them any more.

"Repentance is a divine gift, and there should be a smile on our faces when we speak of it." -Elder D. Todd Christofferson

I love you all, and I hope you have an awesome week leading up to Christmas!

Elder Nielsen

Miracles for Days

Season's Greetings, everyone!

Transfers are this week. I am getting a new companion named Elder Ure, and Elder Herrador is going to be a Spanish missionary! It will be a weird change, but I'm excited!

'Tis the season for Christmas miracles, and we had A LOT of them this week!

To start off the miracles, I'll share an experience that we had with a new investigator that we picked up this last week. We tracted into K, and she was extremely nice to us. She is around 30 years old or so, and she has a husband and 2 daughters. One of them is 8 1/2, and the other is just a little toddler. She told us that she was busy doing college homework right then, but we could come back in a couple days. We brought one of our ward missionaries, and we sat down in her living room. She pulled a chair up and sat down right in front of us. Her kids were running around a bit and distracting her, but she told them to quiet down because she wanted to listen to us. We taught her the Restoration, and we invited her to be baptized on January 11th. She said, "Can it be on the 18th? My brother is leaving the weekend of the 11th, and I want to be there when he leaves." It was awesome to see how Heavenly Father led us to knock on K's door, and to see how much he had allowed her heart to be open to our message.

We had a lesson scheduled with K, the lady who has a baptismal date for December 28th, so we went over there with our Ward Mission Leader to teach her the Plan of Salvation. When we showed up, K introduced us to a man named M. K has 2 sons. The older one is D, and he is 13 years old. The youngest is E, and he is just a baby. K told us that M was the father of the baby, E. We talked for a little bit, and M told us that he had met with missionaries a couple of times, but nothing ever really happened because of it. After that, we taught the Plan of Salvation to them and explained how Heavenly Father intends for the family to live together for eternity. M started freaking out, telling us how crazy it was that we were teaching that. He told us that he and K were just talking about getting married the day before. At that point, we invited M to be baptized on December 28th with K, and he said, "I'd be more than happy to." It was so awesome to see how the Gospel touched M's heart. He doesn't really look like the kind of guy that would be a Mormon, since he has a bunch of tattoos and big earrings. It taught me that we really don't know who is searching for the Gospel, and we just need to be open to sharing it with everyone we come in contact with.

Later in the week, we went back over to see how M and K were doing. We had a Ward Christmas party the day before that they all came to, including D. Our Ward Mission Leader, Brother T, gave them a tour around the church after the party. K had explained to us before that D wasn't incredibly open to going to most any Church. We were able to ask D about how he liked the Ward Christmas Party, and he told us that he really enjoyed it. They told us that during the tour around the church, one of the places they walked by was the baptismal font. D piped up and asked, "Can I be baptized?" We were pretty surprised, so we invited D to be baptized on December 28th as well, and he accepted! It is so cool, because we have been praying to find a family for weeks, and Heavenly Father led us straight to one. They were all able to come to Church this past week, and they loved it. 

While we were over at K and M's place, M was asking us a few things for a little bit. We were sitting down on the couch, and he sat down right in front of us on the floor and asked, "What do you guys have that makes you so happy?" He said that he and K had been talking about how I am just smiling a bunch and am just content with anything. He said that he had been looking for that for his whole life and had never found it. It touched my heart, because Heavenly Father loves us all so much.He knows that M has been searching for lasting happiness, and he allowed us to be the ones to help him accept the Gospel. I'm grateful for that amazing miracle.

The Church is true - the Book is blue - and I love you!

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Thanksgiving!

Good morning!

We are still trying to find investigators right now, because a lot of the people we are working with aren't really progressing. We were able to meet a lot of really cool people that were willing to hear our message. We were just walking down the street one day, and a black guy named LB ran up to us and said, "I've been praying. I need to go to church, and I am hoping to get a job too." He told us his address, so we are going to go visit him this week!

We tracted into an Italian family this week that let us come in and share a message. The mom's name is S, and she told us that she was 1/2 Italian. Italians are so cool! She told us that she is of the Bahi faith, which essentially encourages you to seek out truth wherever you can find it. We were able to give her a Book of Mormon, and she said she would read it and pray about it. She also said that she is willing to come to Church, so it will be really cool to help her feel the Spirit, especially as she is able to receive a witness that the Book of Mormon is true.

We were able to set a baptismal date with K, the investigator that we tracted into a couple of weeks ago. She told us that she has been thinking about baptism, so we are going to really focus on helping her to gain and strengthen her testimony of the Book of Mormon. I think we have been kind of focusing on just helping them to meet the requirements for baptism, but it is so much more important that they are becoming truly converted to the Gospel.

Something that was really cool that was shared during Church yesterday really touched me. Christ doesn't demand perfection out of us right now. He knows who we are and what we are able to accomplish here in this life. He knows we are going to stumble and fall. All he asks is that we keep trying. The only time we truly fail is when we don't get back up after we fall. 

I love you all, and I hope you enjoy the beginning of this Christmas season!

Elder Nielsen

Bob and Lois' baptism

Happy Thanksgiving week, everyone!

This week was an awesome one filled with a bunch of stuff! We had Zone Conference last week, and Elder Stanley G. Ellis and his wife came to speak to us. He mostly addressed the topic of doubling our baptisms. He told us, "If you want to baptize more, then you have to teach more. If you want to teach more, than you have to talk to more people each day."  He also told us that we have to focus on finding families to teach, because then they can progress and focus on living the Gospel as a family. That is something that we have really been working on, and we have been able to find more people to teach already! As we have been doing what we can to find new investigators Heavenly Father has noticed our efforts and blessed us with the opportunity to meet with new people. We were able to meet the Lawler family this past week, and they are great people. It is a younger couple with 2 sons about 4 and 6 years old. We are planning on going back over this week to share the entire message of the Restoration with them, so we are really looking forward to that.

Bob and Lois' baptism was this past Saturday, and it was so awesome to go back and see them and be a part of their baptism. I was able to be in the water to help Lois get back up out of the water while Elder Peek baptized her. We had to try it twice since her knees popped up out of the water, but it went well! Then I was able to baptize Bob, and that was an awesome experience. I am hoping that I can go with them through the Temple as they get sealed in a year!

One of our most progressing investigators right now is Kimberly. We tracted into her a couple of weeks ago, and she is awesome. She told us that she already believes that the LDS Church is the true church on the earth, and she is wanting to come to Church! The only problem is that her 13 year old son is with her every weekend, and his father isn't too keen on letting him go to the "Mormon Church." We are going to go over to Kimberly's today to invite her to have Thanksgiving dinner with us and the Dayton family, since it will be just her and her baby boy. We are really looking forward to it!

I hope you all have an awesome week!

Elder Nielsen

More from Roseville

Well, hello!

This week we were able to teach a bunch of really cool lessons and have some really cool experiences! One of them is with the Iranian couple that we tracted into a couple weeks ago. We were able to go inside and talk to Aly for a bit about Iran and his religious beliefs. Aly told us that we were their first American guests. How cool is that?! We weren't too sure on their customs, and they seemed pretty cautious so they wouldn't do anything that might have seemed rude. While we were talking to Aly, his wife, Mariam, was sitting right in the other room listening, but she wasn't participating in the discussion. We had to start off with a lot of the basics with Aly, since they were originally Muslim, and we told him how we believe that Jesus is the Son of God as well as just a prophet. We talked to them about the Restoration, and how we can come to know whether or not it is true if we read and pray about the Book of Mormon. We gave them a Book of Mormon in Pharcy, and then we left after a prayer. As we were walking out, Mariam came to see us out the door. Right before she said goodbye, she flipped through the Book of Mormon real fast. It was cool to see that she was listening and hopefully she has the desire to find out what we were saying is true. 

We also had a really cool experience with our new investigator named Kimberly. She is a incredibly nice and humble, and she has 2 sons. One of them is just a baby, and the other is about 13 years old. We were able to go over and teach her the Restoration and give her a Book of Mormon. As we were leaving, we asked if there was anything that we could do to help or serve her. She told us that she doesn't have a bed, and neither does her oldest son, so she asked us if we could watch out for some. We told her we would, and then we left to go meet with a member family named the Justesens. We told them about the lesson we had with Kimberly and her need for a bed. They immediately started getting blankets and pillows together, as well as getting an air mattress out of their garage. We were able to take the air mattress over to her right then, and she was so grateful. When we were walking back to the car, Brother Justesen said, "That is exactly what the Gospel is. It is a way of life to help others." It was an awesome experience.

I am so excited for this weekend, because I get the opportunity to baptize an investigator in my last area named Bob this Saturday. We are going to go back to Citrus Heights for the baptism, and it is going to be amazing. i will try to include pictures next week!

Love you all!

Elder Nielsen

Elder Nielsen serving at the home of a ward member

Another week in Roseville

Hello everyone!

We met an Iranian family this past week, and we are hoping to be able to start teaching them!  He told us that they were Muslim, so we aren't completely sure that we are allowed to teach him without permission from our mission president. In my last area, the other elders in my ward were able to teach the Muslim people but weren't able to baptize them without permission first, so we'll see how it all goes!

I was able to go on exchanges with Elder Dedrickson, who is in the Roseville 1st ward, this week. We had a bunch of really cool experiences. It all started off with us riding our bikes and a lady drove up asking us if we were Jehovah's Witnesses. We told her that we were Mormon missionaries, and she said that would work. She told us about her 30-something year old nephew that she just dropped off at the park because he has gotten really deep into drugs and she isn't sure what to do. We went and talked to him for a bit, and he didn't seem very open or interested, but as we talked to him some more he opened up and at least took our number.

The next experience, which was probably the coolest experience of the day, happened at a place that we were at for lunch. We weren't sure what to get, and we were taking a bit of time to choose, so we let the older couple behind us order before us. They gave us a couple of suggestions of what to order, and we were able to chat for just a second. We thought they were really nice people, so we asked if we could sit next to them to eat. We were able to talk to them about our purpose as missionaries as well as what we believe in. The husband didn't seem very open, but the wife was pretty interested. We were able to leave a Book of Mormon with her, and she told us to look her up if we were ever in Lincoln! One of the coolest parts is that we almost didn't ask if we could sit by them, because we were kind of nervous. We got over our fear though, and because of it we were able to have an awesome teaching opportunity as well as leaving someone with a Book of Mormon! 

I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Greetings from Roseville!

So it is definitely weird getting transferred after being in one area
for a couple of months. It is kind of hard to learn the new area as
quick as possible, but I'm trying! Roseville is a really cool place,
and I have really enjoyed it so far. The ward is awesome, and the Ward
Mission Leader is really awesome as well. He is very involved in the
work, and I am really happy about that. The Bishop is new, but he is
focusing on reaching out to rescue those that have not been able to
make it to Church in quite a while, so I am looking forward to being
able to get a lot of work done!

We have a baptism coming up this week! Her name is Rachel, and she is
a really awesome lady. She has a bunch of tattoos, and she used to
drink and smoke and a bunch of stuff. She really turned her life
around in just the month that she has been meeting with the
missionaries, and it is awesome! Her baptism will be this Saturday,
and Elder Herrador will be baptizing her. We also had a really sweet
experience with another investigator. We went to visit her in a rest
home, because she gets really lonely and down a lot. We shared a
spiritual thought with her, and started talking to her about baptism.
We weren't planning to, but that is the way the conversation went. We
were able to set a baptismal date with her for November 30th! It was a
really cool miracle that we were able to witness and be a part of.

Some news from my last area - the Tempo Park Ward: Bob and Lois's
baptism date got moved up to the 23rd of November, and so I am looking
forward to going to that. Elder Peek, my last companion, also told me
that Bob wants me to baptize him! Elder Peek is going to baptize Lois, and
I am going to baptize Bob! It is going to be an exremely cool
experience, and I am really looking forward to it.

Love you all!

Elder Nielsen

Goodbye, Citrus Heights!

Well, the title says it all. I am getting transferred! I am leaving Citrus Heights, and going to the good ole' city of Roseville, California! I am sad to leave the Tempo Park ward, because it has been the best experience to be able to serve here. I am also looking forward to being able to meet all of the amazing people in the Roseville 3rd ward. 

We were able to set a couple of baptismal dates this past week! Bob finally got cleared by his doctor to get baptized anytime after the 20th of November, so we were able to set a date with him and his wife for November 30th. It is going to be a really cool experience, because Bishop told them that since Bob is doing so well with the Gospel that he will be able to baptize Lois after he gets baptized. He will come out of the font and get ordained into the Aaronic Priesthood, then he will go back into the font to baptize his wife! It is going to be a sweet experience. We were also able to set a baptismal date for the Castillo family for December 7th. The son isn't sure about baptism yet, so he is going to think about it. The parents are all for it though, so hopefully the son will be able to see how happy the parents are with the fulness of the Gospel in their lives! They said they have been super impressed so far, and they love the feeling of when they come to Church. I hope I am able to come back to see their baptisms!

That was pretty much what happened this past week! I love you all! Next stop - Roseville!

Elder Nielsen

The Lord knows best

Hey there, everyone! How's it going?!

The weather here is still feeling like summer weather, but it is starting to cool down. It feels good most days now, and it feels great when we are riding our bikes around at night! 

We went to a lesson for a Ukrainian couple with our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Wright, this past week. When we got to their house, all of the lights were off. We went up to the door and knocked, but no one answered. We were really looking forward to having a great lesson with them, but it didn't work out. Brother Wright was telling us that whenever he goes out with the missionaries the lessons always fall through. We were trying to think of people that we could go visit, so we went to see one of the families that we have been trying to teach. They weren't home either, and Brother Wright seemed to be getting pretty discouraged. We went to the gas station real quick to fill up on gas in Brother Wright's car, then we decided we would go see the Castillos. The Castillos are normally really busy, and we haven't been able to see them over at their house for quite some time since they aren't home. We stopped by, and they were all there! They invited us in, and we were able to talk for a couple of minutes. We didn't want to stay too long, since it was getting pretty late. The mom piped up and said, "We wanted to talk to you guys about getting baptized." It was super surprising! Later on she said, "So who do we talk to about getting baptized?" It was so cool to see how the Lord led us to their house. As we thought about it, we realized that we weren't supposed to see the Ukrainian family that night, but we were meant to go visit the Castillos. It is amazing to see what the Lord can do in this amazing work as we put our trust in Him and do the things that He wants us to do.

We also had a really cool experience with Robert and Francis coming to Church. Robert turned to me during one of the meetings in Church and said, "We have been meeting with the missionaries for 7 years, and this is the first time we have come to Church." They really enjoyed being able to go to Church, and we are looking forward to being able to meet with them this week!

On a fun note, we all got costumes for Halloween! Our ward mission leader, Brother Wright, was having a Halloween party at his house on Saturday night, and he told us that we could stop by. He didn't expect us to be all dressed up! Everyone there loved it, and it was a bunch of fun. We bought the costumes from a local store, and Elder Sampson dressed up like a ghost. I got the Spiderman costume. Elder Gillies is Captain America. Elder Peek, my companion, is Iron-man. There is a trunk-or-treat going on at our Church this Saturday, so we might dress up and hand out candy to the kids if we can get some of our investigators to go to it!

I hope you guys all had a great week, and I hope you all enjoy this next one. Love you all!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Happy Columbus Day, everyone!

We were able to start teaching a man named David that we have been trying to set up lessons with for quite a while. His wife is a recent convert, and they have two sons. One of the sons became a member with the mom, and the other son isn't incredibly open to the Gospel yet. It was really cool though, because David was talking about getting sealed to his family and everything. We were able to set a baptismal date with him for January 4th, 2013! It is so exciting to be in this area, because we have multiple people that are preparing for baptism. Bob and Lois are some of the others that are looking forward to baptism. Bob is still waiting on getting cleared by the doctor in order to be baptized. Because of his 4-way bypass surgery, he still isn't able to be completely immersed in water yet. 

We were able to have the Castillo family to all 3 hours of Church this week for the first time! It was really exciting, because the Young Men were able to take the son and have him participate in the youth classes. The mom was able to meet people in Relief Society, and she told one of the members that she will see her next week! We haven't been able to meet with them a ton the past couple of weeks, but we are hoping to be able to get over there more often.

So there is a sick bug going around that a ton of people have been getting. It started with one of the other Elders, and it has circulated until it finally got to me. I was hoping it would pass me up, but it had a different idea! It isn't too bad though, and I think I am getting over it. 

So the people in the Tempo Park ward feed us incredibly well. I have already gained at least 10 pounds since I have been on my mission. If I keep going at this rate I will need to get some new clothes pretty soon! I'm working on becoming a world-class jump-rope artist though, so no need to worry.

A scripture that I read this week that I REALLY like is Moroni 7:37. "...it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain." If we have the faith, then the Spirit will touch the hearts of the people that God is preparing to receive His Gospel. This doesn't just require the faith of the missionaries though. It involves all the people that are a part of the work of God, which is every member of the Church. The Gospel has blessed our lives, so we have to have the faith that it can and will bless other people's lives as well! God has prepared us so we are able to share the Gospel with his prepared children, so we should all strive to live up to the divine potential that our Father in Heaven has in store for us. 

Hope you all have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Loved Conference!

Hello all!

Well, General Conference was awesome. One of my favorite quotes from conference was by Elder David A. Bednar when he said, "...the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to act and change our own circumstances rather then expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else." I really like this quote, because we aren't exactly sure what blessings our Heavenly Father has in store for us. We do know, however, that Heavenly Father knows what is best for us, even if we don't always remember that in times of trial or discouragement. There is a simple passage of scripture that I really like that goes along with this. It is near the beginning of the Book of Mormon when Nephi is inviting Laman and Lemuel to have faith. They are angry with him and choose to bind him with cords.

The passage of scripture says...

"17 But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound. 

18 And it came to pass that when I had said these words, behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet, and I stood before my brethren, and I spake unto them again." (1 Nephi 7:17-18).

Heavenly Father answered Nephi's prayer, but not in the way that he had asked for or expected.

So transfers are still 3 weeks away, but I am kind of dreading them because I am not sure I want to leave this area quite yet! I am loving the area I am in. It would be nice to have a bit of a change, but I would like to stay for a bit longer before I ship out.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Ethan Nielsen

A little bit of Citrus Heights

Howdy y'all!

So, working with Elder Peek has been pretty awesome. We get along well, and the missionary work is a bunch of fun.

We met a Ukrainian family too, and that was pretty interesting. The father was kind of trying to disprove our Church, but he wasn't bringing up anything anti. He was mostly just saying that we don't know everything now, and we will all learn more about everything after we die. He and his family are Pentecostal, so they believe in the Trinity and stuff. We are going back tomorrow, so hopefully they are open to reading the Book of Mormon and finding out for themselves that what we say is true!

We tracted into a guy named Eugene Gentry last Thursday. He is a black guy in his late 50s or so, and he is awesome. We told him that we share our message about Jesus Christ, and he told us that he has faith in Jesus Christ and he knows that Christ died for him and for everyone. He actually started crying after he said that, and it was a really cool experience to see how much of a testimony that he already had. He told us that we could come back the next day, so we set up a time and told him goodbye. The next day we came back, and he invited us in and offered to make us sandwiches and stuff. Super nice guy. After that, he basically said that he did not want to waste any of our time since he already knew Christ is his Savior. We started sharing our message about the Restoration of the Gospel, and most of the time he just sat quietly listening. We told him that we have modern-day prophets today, and he said that he wants to hear the Prophet so that he can find out for himself by listening and seeing what the Prophet does to know of he was called of God. We told him that we have General Conference this next weekend, so he said that he would listen to it. He asked us how he had not heard of this before, and we told him that is why we were talking to him. As we testified of the Book of Mormon and how the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, I felt the Spirit so strongly. He said that he would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and we set up an appointment to come back this next Thursday. There are few times in my life when I have felt the Spirit that strongly, and it was amazing.

General Conference this weekend is going to be so awesome! It is the start of suit-coat season, so we are going to start wearing suits every day instead of just on Sundays. Should be pretty fun while we are riding around on our bikes! 

Love you all!

Elder Nielsen

Citrus Heights, CA

Dear all,

How is everything going for you guys! 

So, like I said before, Elder Peek is my new companion. He has been out for about 10 months. He is from south Weber, UT. We get along pretty well! He is 6' 4", and we work well together.

From left to right, Elder Sampson, waitress :), Elder Gillies, Elder Nielsen, Elder Peek (new companion), Elder Gull

We have been able to get a lot of good work done. One of the really cool experiences we had was when we met with someone that has been investigating the Church for about 15 years. We asked him what concern held him back when he was meeting with the missionaries before, and he told us that he has a hard time believing that Joseph Smith could have translated the Book of Mormon and the fact that we have modern-day prophets. We asked if he had ever read the Book of Mormon before, and he told us that he had only read sections of it. We bore our testimonies, and then we committed him to read the Book of Mormon. We are meeting with him this Wednesday to read from the Book of Mormon. I love being able to teach about the Lord's promise that if we read the Book of Mormon with real intent and we are praying to know if it is true, then we WILL receive an answer. Our Heavenly Father will never fall through on His promises, so we can know that we can receive everything that he has promised us as long as we are doing our part.

I love missionary work more with every passing week. Being on a mission has really shown me how much the Gospel means to me. Without the Gospel, life would be meaningless!

I love you all, and I hope this week goes amazing for you guys!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Transfers be happenin' in the Golden State

Hey there everybody!

Everything is going pretty awesome here in Citrus Heights! We are still teaching Bob, and he is doing awesome! He can't read small print very well, so his wife is reading the Book of Mormon to him every day. She isn't a member of the Church either, so it is really exciting stuff! We taught them the plan of salvation this past week, and it went really well! 

We also met with Chris this week as well. He is the guy that got out of prison a bit ago and is wanting to change his life around. He told us that he is on parole, so he is going to have to wait until he isn't anymore so that he can be baptized. He told us that he was kind of bummed about that, but he is just going to be patient and look forward to the day when he can be baptized! We showed him a bible video this past week about the good Samaritan, and Chris talked about how he has gone around finding ways to help people as well. We told him that he is already preparing to take upon him the name of Jesus Christ by looking for those opportunities to serve the people around him.

Elder Nielsen got to go to the Sacramento Temple last week.

We got transfer calls yesterday, and I am staying here in Citrus Heights in the Tempo Park ward! Elder Tomblin is getting transferred way up North to Andersen, so I will be getting a new companion. His name is Elder Peek, and I have heard that he is a pretty cool guy! I am looking forward to working with him. He is coming in tomorrow morning at 10:30, so hopefully everything goes well with that!

I hope you all have an awesome week! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Citrus Heights is my homeboy.

Hey there everyone!

We have still been teaching a guy that just got out of the hospital a couple of weeks ago. His name is Bob, and he came to Church with his wife, Lois, this past week. Apparently when Lois was younger, she asked for her name to be removed from the records of the Church. They both seem pretty interested though, and Bob said that he is looking forward to being baptized. Unfortunately, because of his 4-way bypass surgery he isn't able to get baptized because of the scars that still need to heal a bit more. He said that his doctor would clear him in a couple months, so I am looking forward to that! Their hearts are so open and have been so prepared to receive the Gospel, it is crazy! They will ask questions and then say, "Oh, ok!" It is kind of a relief to have people like this that we are teaching, because almost no one else is like Bob and Lois!

I have really noticed the blessings of obedience as I have been out on my mission. The Lord gives us commandments in order to give us blessings in our lives. It is like he shows us a safe full of blessings, and then holds out the key to us just waiting for us to take it. The key is His commandments and the things he asks us to do so that we can stay close to Christ and to the Spirit as we go throughout our lives. If we obey the Lord, then we take the key and we are able to open the safe that is full of blessings just waiting to be claimed! I know that it is kind of a cheesy analogy, but that is really how it is!

I went on exchanges this past week with Elder Gull. He is from Spanish Fork, so not that far from the hometown in Orem, UT! He is a really cool guy, and we were able to work well this past week. We were able to see a lady that we gave a Book of Mormon to, and she told us that she found out that one of her coworkers is LDS. She told him that she was going to start reading the Book of Mormon! It is pretty exciting when we meet people that are open to hearing the Gospel!

Transfers are coming up this next week, so I will have some news on what happens in the next email! Maybe I will get transferred somewhere else! Probably not though, cause my companion has been here for 5 transfers.

Love you all! I hope you all enjoy this week!

Love,

Elder Nielsen

Rain in Citrus Heights

Hello everyone! Happy Labor Day!

So, as you can tell by the subject line, it rained here in Citrus Heights! It started this morning, so I decided I would go enjoy it a little bit! I was in all of my missionary clothes, but I just stood there in the rain for a little bit...and it was awesome. 

So, we just had Zone Conference this past Wednesday. President Weston came and talked to us a bit and made a couple exciting announcements. He told us that we had been chosen as one of 12 test missions that will be able to use Facebook! I'm not sure if it is actually just that many missions, because I have heard of a couple other missions that use Facebook too. It seems like it would be less common to hear about missions like that!

We had a pretty crazy experience this week. Chris Oerding, the investigator that has been preparing for baptism, just got married. We actually had the chance to help him out with it! We were rushing back from Zone Conference, since the wedding was on the same day as the conference. We were about 15 minutes late, and we still had to go pick up rings for them! We just bought some pretty cheap rings that were only around 10-20 dollars, and I actually picked her ring out! That means that I will be ready to pick my wife's ring out! It is really cool though, because Chris is now living the law of chastity so he can be baptized! He is really wanting to get baptized soon, so hopefully it can take place within the next 2 weeks or so!

Over the past couple weeks, I have really come to love learning from the scriptures more than I ever have in my life. Lehi said that he "delighteth in the scriptures," and I have come to feel the same way more than I had before my mission. The scriptures are such a powerful tool to learn and teach, and they provide such wonderful examples of the Lord and His prophets so that we may learn the principles of the Gospel.

I love you guys so much! Hope you all enjoy this next week!

Love,
Elder Ethan Nielsen

Working hard & seeing prayers answered

Hello everyone!

This week, President Weston called us letting us know that he wants us to split up the area between the 2 sets of elders. We met and cut the area down one of the major roads, and now we have a much smaller area! Our original area was made up of about 4 subsections, and we got 1 area while the other elders got the other 3. The area we got is really busy with work though, and there are a lot of apartment complexes there too.

We are teaching a guy named Chris, and he is super solid. He got out of prison a couple months ago, and he was in there for about 8 years. He is engaged to a member of the Church who is somewhat less-active. They have been living together for a little bit, so we taught them the Law of Chastity last night, and Chris committed to live it! They said they are planning on getting married ASAP, and they are hoping they can get married this week! Our ward mission leader told us that as ministers of the Gospel, we are technically authorized to perform a marriage. It would be super sweet to be able to say I performed a marriage while on my mission! The Bishop will probably end up performing it though, so it will be super cool. We had taught him on Saturday as well, and he told us that he wanted to be baptized. It kind of caught us off guard, because we weren't even talking about baptism right then. Since he just recently got out of prison he will probably have to wait until he is off parole, but he has a really strong desire to be baptized! It is going to be super cool, because I might be able to go to the Temple when they get sealed together. Going to the temple to see a family that I taught get sealed together is one of my goals on my mission, and hopefully this is it!

I went on exchanges on Tuesday with Elder Larsen. We made sure to do a good job at planning, and making sure we were specific in our prayers. We have had a tough time setting up lessons recently, but since we were praying more specifically in order to set up lessons we were able to set 3 up! It was a really neat experience showing me how much Heavenly Father recognizes even our little efforts. It kind of relates to what someone had said to our district a couple of weeks ago. They said, "It is the Lord's work, so let Him do some of it." It definitely helps to include our Father in Heaven as we are trying to serve Him and His children.

Love you guys so much!

Elder Nielsen

Playing basketball with the neighbors (Ethan on the hoop)

A photo taken by a ward member. He loves the ward he is serving in (so does his mom!).

Missionary work in California

Hello everyone!

We started teaching an investigator named Chris this week. He is about 27 years old, and he just got out of prison pretty recently. I think he was in prison for about 8 years or so. He is a super cool guy who wants to do what is best for his fiance, her daughter, and himself. His fiance is a somewhat less-active member, so they are going to get married coming up here pretty soon. He has been reading the Book of Mormon, and he says he really wants to know what is the right path for him. He committed to pray about the Book of Mormon, so we are looking forward to him getting his answer! If he gets baptized, he and his fiance say they are going to get sealed in the temple! It is super exciting because the temple is what we are trying to get these people to aim for, and that is what it is looking like for him and his fiance!

Transfers are coming up in about 3 weeks or so, and I am pretty excited for them! Transfers are always pretty exciting, so that is definitely something to look forward to.

It has been pretty nice weather the past week or so, and I am loving it! It has been around 90, and it is tons better than the 100s that it has been at. Humidity in some places around the country like Oklahoma would be killer, though...

Sorry, there wasn't a whole lot in this letter. I love you all! Keep living the life!

Elder Nielsen

The Tempo Park Foursome

Hello everyone!

So this past week we got some new elders in our ward, so we have 4 elders serving in our ward alone! We also have a set of sisters that cover our ward and another ward, so the Lord definitely wants some work done in our ward!

The new elders are Elder Sampson and Elder Gillies. Elder Sampson is from Pleasant Grove, UT, and Elder Gillies is from Kaysville, UT. They are both awesome elders, and they are teaching me a ton. They are super good at finding new investigators, and they have helped us get better at it too. We go over to their apartments to have lunch and breakfast sometimes, and we have been showing them around our area quite a bit. Elder Sampson was on the BYU football team as a linebacker. He red-shirted his freshman year then went on his mission, so I am going to be close friends with a BYU football player!

Elders Gillies and Sampson found a new investigator as they were walking to church, and they were able to get him to come to church. That night, we were all at a member's house eating dinner, and they had invited him over as well since he is homeless. He got kicked out of his house about 3 days ago by his dad, so he has been just looking for help. We were able to teach him about the Gospel, and he is looking to get baptized on September 7th! It was a really cool lesson, and I could feel the Spirit a ton! It is amazing how much the Spirit helps you teach if you listen to what is being said and trying listen to the Spirit!

I am definitely getting more comfortable talking to people! I am having an easier time just talking to people, but now I am just working on how to talk to them in order to teach them the Gospel! It is definitely working out though, and the Lord is helping me so much!

I love you guys a ton. Best wishes from the west coast!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Hello everyone!

This week was a pretty neat week, as most every week has at least something cool to go with it. 

I went on exchanges for the first time this week. The missionary I was with was Elder Ewell. We had a really neat experience with a girl named Kaylee, who is about 18 years old. We were riding our bikes, and she was just sitting down on the curb. We rode our bikes up to her and just started talking to her. She told us that her boyfriend had gotten her pregnant when she was 15, she got an abortion, and that the same boyfriend lost her book of about 70 poems that she has been writing since she was about 12. She was crying as she told us this. We told her that she was a precious daughter of God, and that there is hope through the Gospel. We talked to her a little bit more, gave her our number, and then left to go to another appointment. A couple hours later she texted us saying, "Thank you guys so much for talking to me. You saved my life." When I read that text, I was shocked. It was so cool to see the impact of just talking to someone has. I've always wanted to save someone's life, and now I have. It was just in a different way than I expected!

We got transfer reports yesterday (Sunday), and there are going to be some pretty crazy things happening! The ward I am serving in will be getting another set of Elders! Elder Sampson is the name of one, and he will be training so we aren't sure who the other Elder is yet. Elder Tomblin, my companion, is now District Leader. I'll be going on at least 1 exchange a week now!

Love you guys,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Ethan learned that to let a horse know that you want to be friends you sniff its nostrils??

Their apartment in Citrus Heights 

Elders Nielsen (left) and Tomblin (right)

(L-R) Elder Ashby, Elder Tomblin, Elder Nielsen & Elder Sampson

Another week in C-Heights, California

Wassup Everybody?!

This past week was pretty cool. We were able to help a man in our ward move. His name is Marcello, and he is so kind. He fed us some stuff that they called some crazy name, but they described it as gluttonous rice. I almost threw up! Don't worry though, because they didn't see it. We had gone to a buffet place for breakfast with the ward mission leader, so I was just stuffed. The gluttonous rice is something I would try again though.

We met a professional fighter too! We were riding our bikes and he was moving into our apartment complex so we stopped and helped him. His name is Steve "the Freak". He told us that we can go work out with him whenever. So I'll be pretty jacked the next time you guys see me!

My ward is awesome. The bishop is one of the nicest guys I have ever met, and he is definitely an inspired man.

We are still working with the single mom and her two kids towards baptism. We are just trying to keep her on the path towards baptism, because her life is pretty crazy right now.

Hope everything is going well for all of you!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

This week in CA

Hello everyone!

California is a very beautiful place. It isn't super amazing or anything, but there are a bit of trees down in Citrus Heights (not a lot of citrus trees) that are really cool to be surrounded by. I will try to take a picture of what I usually see while riding my bike around.

I have been getting better with the homesickness lately. I was able to talk to President Weston about it yesterday, and he said that he is going to help me get through this. He basically told me, "No matter what happens, I'm not letting you go home." That comforted me a lot. He is such an amazing guy that loves and cares for all of the missionaries so much. He said he always has time for us and he is so willing to do anything for us. He said it just takes a bit of time to get over all of that stuff, so I'm in it for the long haul no matter what.

We had a really cool experience this past week. The first part happened about last Wednesday. We were talking to JoAnn (a recent convert of about a month) and her friend David (a somewhat anti-LDS guy) out in front of David's house where he was working on a broken sprinkler. We offered to help him, but he said he wouldn't want to get our white shirts all dirty. We then asked if there was anything else we could do, so he jokingly said that he had 2 cars in the back that we could wash. He was surprised when we accepted because he didn't think we would, so he told us he was just kidding. After that, we told him goodbye and left with JoAnn. Fast forward to Sunday. We were talking to JoAnn, and she had told us that she had been eating dinner over at David's house with him and his wife later in the week than when we had talked to him. She told us that he had said, "You know, maybe that Church isn't so bad after all. Get me one of those Books of Mormon." Heck yes! Really cool change of heart happened just because we offered to do some service. I was really excited to hear that that had happened.

Here is another experience that happened to us that my companion wrote and then sent to me.

QUE OTHER EXPERIENCE

This last Saturday has to be one of my most treasured memories on this mission so far. We were able to witness a miracle today with a family and the grandpa of the family. We were going over to an investigator's house (she has a baptismal set this coming month) and right when we left our appt. we saw a moving truck! It was one of our neighbors that was just moving out. The grandpa was the only one out by the moving truck sitting on one of the sofas he had yet to move into the truck, So we asked if we could help and he said, "yeah, I would love it if you guys helped!" The really cool part was that his father was a Latter-Day saint, and he was praying to his father who passed away just a few years ago. Right at that moment, we showed up! He told us this, and we explained that it was no coincidence. He told us we were "God-sent". We were able to talk to him about the church, and about the Book of Mormon, we were able to give him a copy, and he said he would read the whole thing. He has been reading the New Testament, So he is going to start with the B.O.M.. Really neat experience! We gave him our emails and other information about getting him a free app for the bible and book of Mormon.

He just emailed me today!
Here is his email!!!

FWD:
Elder Ethan, Elder Taylor
Wanted to thank you again for your help and The Book of Morman. I found it on the Gospel Library 3.0 app. I loaded it up on my iPad and have started reading my 2pages a day until I complete it in one year.

Wishing you both a successful mission.
God Bless

BACK TO MY EMAIL

Super cool experiences, right?

I love the people here. The family that has a baptismal date for the 17th of August is so awesome. There is the mom who is in her 30's, her son who is 11, and another son who is 10. The mom has a smoking problem, so we are going to help her with that. I am so excited though! I have really grown to love a lot of the people here though. My ward mission leader is awesome. The bishop is such an inspired guy, and you can really tell by how he leads the ward council meetings. I am just trying to learn what I can from all these examples around me!

Love you all!

Elder Ethan Nielsen

I didn't get an explanation for this picture, all I can figure is that it is supposed to mean hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil... smell no evil???