Monday, December 30, 2013

#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

Monday, December 23, 2013

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!

Monday, December 16, 2013

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

Monday, December 9, 2013

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

Monday, December 2, 2013

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