Monday, December 29, 2014

Merry Christmas!

Hey everyone!

This week was an awesome one. We had a lesson with Richie this past week and we taught him the Restoration. He was very receptive to it all, and he has even read some of the book of Mormon before. We talked to him about baptism, and he said that he would like to be baptized on January 31! He is such a Christlike guy and he is always looking to help others out. I really hope that we can help him to grow closer to Jesus Christ.

So it was Christmas this past week, and it was great! We were able to spend some time on Christmas eve over at President Marston's house, and then we were able to have breakfast there as well! It was an awesome experience spending time with their family, and it made me miss mine a bit! Their grandkids were over, and they got so excited when they opened new presents. It was the coolest thing to watch.

I am reading through Jesus the Christ right now, and I am loving it. I'm really trying to study very deeply in order to learn as much as I can. I only started a couple days ago, and I have loved what I've learned so far.

I hope you all had a Merry Christmas, and have a Happy New Year!

Elder Nielsen

Monday, December 22, 2014

Busy holiday season in Rocklin

Just a heads up, this won't be a long email. We had a busy week with transfers, so we weren't able to do as much proselyting this week. We helped out with Christmas devotionals across the mission on Thursday and Friday too, so that made us even busier.

We had a cool experience visiting one of the less active members in our ward. Her brother has investigated the church in the past, so we were going over there to see if they were willing to take the missionary lessons. They both accepted invitation and we were able to set up times to go back over. We started talking about her boyfriend, and she said that he would probably like to take the missionary lessons as well. We are very excited!

It is crazy how fast Christmas game this year. Pretty soon 2014 is going to be over, and it will be a whole new year! I love you all, and I hope you have a great week!

Elder Nielsen

P.S. Here is a couple of our Christmas pictures.




Monday, December 8, 2014

Real talk

Hey everybody!

We had the director of proselyting from the whole church come out with us this past week. His name is Brother Hemingway. It was pretty intimidating! He came out with us last Tuesday, and we were with him in the evening for about five hours. He took us out to dinner, and it was actually pretty funny experience. He asked us where we wanted to go eat, but he gave us a condition that it couldn't be fast food and it couldn't break the bank. I had heard my companion mention Cattlemen's earlier in the day. I turned to him and asked if he wanted to go there? He said sure, so we ended up going there. Once we looked at the menu we figured out it wasn't the cheapest place to eat. Brother Hemingway just laughed about it and told us to get whatever we wanted. We went throughout the rest of the night after eating a really good dinner. We went to the lessons that we had scheduled, and then we went back to our apartment to plan for the next day. After planning, Brother Hemingway told us the things we are doing well on and then gave us a few suggestions on what to improve on. Overall, it was a very cool experience!

We were able to go walk around on the college campus for a little bit this past week. We were trying to hand out the "He is the Gift" pass-along cards. We really didn't talk to a lot of people but a couple of them said they would be interested in learning more! It was pretty cool. I still don't have the best ability to talk to people, but I'm not as scared to do it anymore. It is fun!

We had a really good lesson with one of our most solid investigators this past week. She is so close to taking the step for baptism, but there have just been a few things holding her back. She brought up her main concern with us in this lesson, so now we can really teach to her needs a lot more!

Love you all! Sometimes the Lord brings the slow so that he can lift us higher. He has a plan for you to be the best you can be. Remember that!

Elder Nielsen

Monday, December 1, 2014

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree!

Holy cow. December is already here. Goodbye 2014! This year went by so quickly!

We had a lot of various stuff happen this week. We live with the Rocklin 5th ward Elders, and someone in their ward called to see if they could help them move...in the rain. We went to help them, and I enjoyed it! Man, I have missed the rain. I'm glad it is rainy season now here in Northern California!

We had our final zone conference in Redding this past week. It was cool to see a bunch of the missionaries I served around.

We have an investigator named Dani who is so close to baptism. She is very fickle with her decision to investigate the church. We had a lesson with her this past week. We were helping her recognize the answer of her praying to know if this is the true church. We had a kneeling prayer in the middle of the lesson, and she asked Heavenly Father if she should be baptized. She said she felt good when she prayed, and that God would then tell her when to be baptized. We were excited for her. Unfortunately, she texted a couple days later and said she didn't want to take the lessons anymore. Aah! She really enjoys church and she knows it is true, so hopefully she will come back around soon.

We got to go to the temple this past week, and it was awesome. I really enjoyed the session, and it helped to wipe away the stress for a little bit. I love the temple and the Spirit I feel there! I am going to try to hold myself to going at regular intervals once I get home. After the temple session we were walking the grounds for a bit. We saw some people take wedding pictures, and the photographer happened to be one of sisters from my ward in Roseville! It was awesome to see her, cause she was part of one of my favorite families there.

I got the flu this past week, but I am bouncing back! Elder Gessell, one of the missionaries living in my apartment, took care of me the other night. He was giving me all the medicine I needed and telling me what I needed to do to get better. I'll put a picture of Elder Gessel and me in the email.

I love being a missionary. It has it's hard times, but I love it overall. I feel like I don't measure up to expectations a lot, but I just focus on the positives and it helps a lot. Satan has gotten me to think negatively about myself and I am trying to stop for good. It isn't very fun! I have gotten a lot of comfort from Moses 1:6-16. God calls Moses "my son" and then Satan calls Moses "son of man." Satan tries to make us forgot our divine heritage, and by doing so he influences us to act lower than our standards. I know I have my Father in Heaven in my side, so if I have an eternal perspective what do I have to worry about?

Love you all very much! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Nielsen



Monday, November 24, 2014

Busy, busy, busy.

This past week was a really busy one. We helped out with a zone conference every day from Tuesday-Friday. Tuesday was in Roseville, Wednesday was in Rocklin, Thursday was in Gridley, and Friday was in Chico. We have one more tomorrow in Redding and then we will be all finished. Elder Barney and I had to do a bit of training on our own in front of each zone conference, and it is scary! I get super nervous every single time I get up to talk to all the missionaries, and whenever I get nervous my teeth start chattering! I think I am getting better at speaking in public though!

We had a really solid lesson with Teresa last night. She is still working towards baptism and trying to figure out if it is right for her. She has been praying a lot but doesn't feel like she has received her answer yet. We talked about the good feelings she has had as she has come to church, prayed, and read the Book of Mormon. We expressed that these feelings do come from God. It was really neat, because we were able to explain that there would be no need for faith if Heavenly Father always told us exactly what we need to do with no questions asked. Teresa's good feelings are enough of an answer in order to give her confidence to continue to exercise faith, and the next step for her is baptism. We gave her a blessing of counsel after she asked for it, and it was powerful. She said she felt very happy after the blessing, and we continued to discuss how these feelings came from the Spirit. She is getting so close!

I love you all. Have a great week!

Elder Nielsen

Monday, November 17, 2014

Craziness

Hey everybody!

This week was a pretty intense one. We were helping out with transfers all day Monday through Wednesday. We also got to take the departing missionaries to the airport and welcome the new the arriving missionaries to the mission. It was all pretty crazy, but I am enjoying the chance to be able to help out wherever I can!

I am enjoying Rocklin so far! We are teaching a girl named Teresa, and she is super solid. She wants to be baptized, but she hasn't decided when she's going to go through with it yet. The Young single adult ward here is super solid. The leadership in the ward knows what it's all about, and they are very good at missionary work. I am excited to serve here!

This next week is going to be an extremely busy one. We are helping out with every zone conference throughout the mission. There is a zone conference every day from Tuesday through Friday, as well as one next Tuesday clear up in Redding. I am looking forward to being able to go back up there for a little bit, since I just left.

We live in a four elder apartment here, and it is one of the only ones in the mission. I am loving it so far! We are picking up a projector for the zone conferences tonight, and we are going to watch a church movie with it after we are all done for the night! We are working hard here, and we are enjoying it!

I love you all. I know that Christ is the ONLY way, and His example is the best to follow.

Elder Nielsen

Monday, November 10, 2014

Heading South

Elder Nielsen didn't have time to send a group e-mail today. They received transfer calls last night, and he was unexpectedly transferred from Redding after only serving there for two transfers. He will now be serving in the Rocklin YSA ward, and also as an assistant to the president (AP). He had to leave Redding quickly; in his brief email this evening he said he was already in Rocklin preparing to help departing missionaries get to the airport tomorrow. We hope to get more information from him next week about his new area, although with his new responsibilities we know he is going to be even busier. Keep up the great work, Elder Nielsen!

Monday, November 3, 2014

Faith & Diligence

This week was packed with a ton of really awesome miracles, and this area definitely needs it too! Elder Page and I talked about redoubling our diligence even and especially when we don't have a lot to do here. We were able to put in a lot of good work this week and the Lord blessed us for our efforts!

On Tuesday we did what is called a "Zone Blitz." A "blitz" is missionary lingo for when multiple companionships work in an specific area. We had all 11 companionships in our zone go to the Shasta Lake Ward, and we were able to see a lot of success! I really enjoyed being able to change up the pace with missionary work and try something new. I went on exchanges with Elder Briggs for a couple of hours, and it was awesome! I was able to ride a bike for the time, and it felt so good! Man, I miss riding a bike every day. We talked to some people that were willing to have the Elders come back over, so it was a great day!

We went to try and contact one of our YSA investigators this past week. He wasn't home, so we were just going to go and visit somebody else. As we were leaving we saw a guy sitting on his balcony with a cigarette in his hand. For a moment I dismissed the thought of going to talk to him, but the same thought kept coming back to my mind. I turned to Elder Page and said, "We need to go talk to that guy." At this point we were driving away, so we flipped around, parked the truck, and started walking toward his apartment building. We saw he wasn't on his balcony anymore, so we figured we would just knock on his door. He was willing to talk with us, and we ended up discussing a wide range of gospel topics. We are planning on going back soon to talk to him more. Let the Holy Spirit guide!

Our Bishop from the family ward spoke a little bit ago, and he shared a poem that really stuck out to me. It is called "How Different," written by R.C. Trench. I'll share it with all of you.

Some murmur when the sky is clear
And wholly bright to view,
If one small speck of dark appear
In their great heaven of blue;
And some with thankful love are filled,
If but one streak of light,
One ray of God's good mercy, gild
The darkness of their night.

We were trying to stay diligent this past week especially when we didn't have a lot of stuff going on. And it so turns out that we found ourselves in the middle of an afternoon with nothing else to do. Our mission president advised us to only go tracting if we had absolutely nothing else to do, so we went tracting! We started talking to a guy that was in his garage carrying groceries inside. He and his wife came out, and they were very friendly with us! Molly, the wife, ended up being the receptionist that worked at the doctor's office the day I went in with my dislocated toe, so we had an instant connection there. They seem like very spiritual people, and they invited us to come back another time to share more of our message! That was Part 1.

Part 2 happened a little bit later on when we talked to a young man named Alex at his door. He said it wasn't a good time right then, but we could come back the next day at 5. So that first bit was awesome, and part 2.5 was even better. We came back the next day, and the family invited us in. Apparently they have a bunch of Mormon family members in Utah. Brianna, the mother, told us she has never felt so good in any place like she felt in Utah. This family is awesome. They even invited us over for dinner this Thursday! We are very excited to be working with them! 

Part 3 was the last one, and it was also great. A lady answered her door and started talking to us. She had a t-shirt that had a non-profit organization shown on the front. We started talking to her about it a bit, and she opened up a lot. We continued to tell her about what we do as missionaries, and we shared a brief overview of the message of the Restoration. We invited her to learn more and she said, "How do I do that?" She was very nice and open, and she accepted to take the lessons! There were so many miracles that came about that day, and I am very grateful to the Lord for allowing us to experience them.

This might be the longest email I have written on my mission. I know Jesus Christ is the only way to true happiness, if only we will follow and live like Him. I love my Savior. I love you guys, and hope you have a great week!

Elder Nielsen

Monday, October 27, 2014

Every member a missionary

This week was a great week. We are trying to work with the members of the ward a lot more. We had a meeting with our ward mission leader and we are trying to figure out how we can get the members more excited to do missionary work. We are going to try to be in members homes a lot more teaching them the lessons so they have sharing the gospel on their minds more. We have had a couple of new visits with members already, and we are hoping to see a lot of miracles by working this way.

We are still working with Wes, and he is doing really well! He is still preparing to be baptized on November 15th, and then in a year his family will be able to go to the Temple to be sealed for eternity! They are such an awesome family, and I am so grateful we have the chance to work with him!

We went on an awesome hike today. We hiked up to a place called Brandy Creek Falls. There were a couple of different pools of water and some pretty sweet waterfalls! I really enjoyed it, and we were able to run back down the trail so it was just like running trail back in Utah for cross country! We also got some really cool pictures on what is called the Sundial bridge. It is a huge suspension bridge in Redding that they light up during the night, and it looks sweet!

Our ward had their chili cook off this week, and Elder Page and I were the judges. Our ward mission leader entered the contest and he wasn't too happy with how the results turned out. He has been teasing us a bit for the past couple days about how we don't know what good chili is. Hahaha! I don't think I do know what it is, but it was a lot of fun!

I love you all, and I hope you have an amazing week!

Elder Nielsen



Monday, October 20, 2014

Have Your Heart in the Journey

Hello!

This week was great! Not everything worked out perfectly, but we were able to see a lot of tender mercies. We met with Wes this past week, and the lesson went really well. Wes's less-active wife, Eva, was there as well, so we were able to teach most of their family. We discussed the Restoration with them, and the Spirit was very strong. We talked to Wes about being sealed in the Temple, and he said it is what he wants for his family. We talked to him about the path to get to the temple, and how baptism is the first step. He said he would like to be baptized, and he is going to do so on November 15th! He truly wants the best for his family, and it is going to be amazing to see how they are going to grow closer together as they are all trying to be more like the Savior.

We were trying to contact some of the people that our Bishop does not personally know last Thursday. We visited somebody that said the person we were looking for does not live there anymore. We asked her how long they had lived there, and she said they had just moved from Brazil about a month before. They had talked to a couple of missionaries there and knew a little about the church, but had never invited the missionaries over to teach them. She invited us to come back on Saturday and meet with her husband. We came back and met with him, and we were able to talk to him for a bit. It was very nice because he was very friendly and open to us! We taught him about the Restoration of the Gospel, and he was very attentive during the entire lesson. He told us that he doesn't accept everything at this point, but he does want to know if it is true. We are planning on meeting with him again tonight, so we hope he has been reading the Book of Mormon and praying in order to receive his answer!

As I was studying this morning I ran across the doctrine of conversion. A principle was really impressed upon me; in order to become converted our desire to follow the Savior must increase continually. Action alone is not enough. We MUST have our heart in the journey as well. M. Russell Ballard wrote "...you find yourself wanting to do what He would do and respond as He would respond in an effort to bring your life into harmony with His." I know that Christ lived a perfect, sinless life. It is for that reason that I feel so much joy and peace when I follow and direct my heart towards Him. As I follow the example of Christ, the Spirit confirms to me that the way of life I am living is good. Alma once said "...it is discernible, therefore you must know that it is good." (Alma 32:35). I have never seen Jesus Christ, but I don't need to in order to prove all of His teaching to be true! I can discern that I feel good when I follow the Savior, so what else do I need? I know the way to pure happiness is by following Christ's example. I encourage you all to direct your thoughts and desires towards the Savior a little more today, and then recognize how you feel. There is no better way to live!

From the desk of...
Elder Nielsen

Monday, October 13, 2014

Faith brings miracles!

So we we were able to contact a lot of our people this past week, which is really good since we haven't been able to for the past couple weeks! We are just trying to be really consistent with everyone to help them progress, and it isn't the easiest thing to do because of the dynamic of our area and the people that live in it.

We worked hard throughout the week and were able to see some of the fruits of our labors on Sunday. We were just leaving the YSA branch when we met someone who decided to come to church with one of the members in the branch. He basically told us that he doesn't have a church that he goes to so he wanted to come check ours out. We are going to go back and meet with him this next week, so that will be
awesome! The other cool miracle was in the family ward. The husband of a member came for the first time in a little while. He told her that he wants to be married in the temple to her, so he is going to be coming to church from now on! We were able to let him know that we can help him prepare for his marriage in the temple, and he invited us over to go meet with him! We are really excited because the work is starting to pick up a lot more recently, and the ward really needs it.

I love you all. Have a great Columbus Day!

Elder Nielsen

Monday, October 6, 2014

News on news.

Hey everyone! Lots of stuff happened end this week, so I will try and recap it all.

Elder Page and I are officially companions now, and things are going well. We are getting along swimmingly, and it is a bunch of fun.

We got the chance to see "Meet the Mormons" this past Friday, and I loved it! All of the stories we so inspiring, and I want to see it again! All of you who are able should see it, and then tell people about it, and then go see it again. It is awesome.

General conference was so amazing. Alisha and I are definitely on the same wavelength, because Lynn G Robbins's talk was one of my favorites as well. I loved how he touched on whether our loyalty is in the Lord or in others.

And lastly, we were playing basketball for p-day today and I messed my toe up pretty bad. I came down on the tip of my right foot and dislocated my right toe. It didn't feel too bad at first, but I found out I couldn't walk on it after a couple steps. We went to the doctor and got some x-rays, and they looked pretty gnarly. The doctor happened to be LDS, and he was able to tug it back into place. It's all good now! Now I am just sitting here in a boot in the gym. Rocking the boot!

Love you all!
Elder Nielsen

Monday, September 29, 2014

Miracles and Transfers

This past week was a great one. We met with Dane, the 13 year old young man. The best way I can describe him is having the desire of Joseph Smith. He really wants to know what the truth is, and he has felt the Spirit confirm the truth as we have been meeting with him. We taught him the Restoration this past week and we invited him to be baptized. He said he would like to prepare to be baptized on October 25th. He is such an awesome young man.

So for transfers, Elder Harris is going down to Yuba City to continue to be a zone leader. Elder Page is coming up here to be my companion. I have met Elder Page before, and he is an awesome guy. We both served in the Red Bluff Ward, and it just so happens that the area we cover for YSA includes Red Bluff! We will have the chance to go down there as we are teaching the lessons to a recent convert.

I love you guys! Have a fantastic week!

Elder Nielsen

Monday, September 22, 2014

Redding is Righteous, man.

We had a number of really cool experiences this last week. It felt different since we had P-day on Wednesday instead of Monday, but it still went really well. I went on exchanges with Elder Cieslak, and we stayed in my area for the exchange. We started the morning off by going to contact some potential investigators that Elder Harris and I have never met before. We stopped by Julia's house, and she was very friendly towards us. She told us she is a single mom and is currently working for the forest service. She didn't have much time right then so we left her with a Restoration pamphlet. She told us she would be interested in learning more! It isn't much yet, but it is exciting to see how we are talking to more people every single week.

After Julia we went to contact one of our investigators name Brianna. We haven't been able to an extensive lesson with her since we need a male to go inside her house, but she is showing a lot of interest. We left her with a Book of Mormon and invited her to read some specific chapters. She said she really wants to know the truth about whether there really is a God or not, and we explained that there is no way to completely prove or disprove there is a God. That is why the principle of faith is so important.

We had a couple more neat experiences on that exchange, but I don't have the time to get them all down, so I will tell about another neat experience we had on Friday. We were trying to contact some less-active members that the bishop doesn't know. We were able to see a couple of them as well as talk to some people who now live where the less-actives used to live. After contacting someone we started to walk out of the apartment complex just as a young man named Dane came up to us and asked, "Do you guys give away Bibles?" We told him we sure do. Then we proceeded to tell him about the Book of Mormon, and he said he would like one. We set up another time to bring the Bible by, and then went back to our truck. It was such a neat and simple miracle to see.

We were on exchanges again on Saturday, and I was in my area with Elder Percival. We went back to Dane's house to give him the bible, and he told us he really liked reading from the Book of Mormon. We talked to him a bit more about the Book of Mormon and talked to him about church a bit, and he said he would like to come. He said he should be able to come this next Sunday, so we are looking forward to getting him integrated in with the Young Men in the ward!

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is so awesome. I have never been happier than when I am trying to be more like my Savior. Following Christ's example is the only way I would want to live in order to have a fulfilling and successful life. There is no other way for me. I feel the same way that Peter did when Christ asked "Will ye also go away?" Peter answered, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life" (John 6:67-68).

I know I make many, many mistakes, even when I try my best. However, Christ knew I would do so and chose to suffer for my sins anyways. He loved me enough to choose to take upon himself my sins. He did that for YOU personally. Regardless of your weakness, He chose to die for you so you can live through Him.

I love you all so much.

Elder Nielsen

Wednesday, September 17, 2014

"For the power is in them, wherein they are agents unto themselves." (D&C 58:28)

This past week or so has been really interesting! Our P-day got moved to today since we had a Mission Tour with Elder Brent H. Nielson, of the Seventy. Everything has been a little out of sync because of that, but things are going well!

I was able to learn a lot from the Mission Tour with Elder Nielson. One of the biggest things that I received a greater understanding of is the principle of agency and our faith. In 2 Nephi 2:14, Lehi is speaking to his sons and talking to them about the Plan of Happiness. He says, "God...hath created all things...both things to act and things to be acted upon." Elder Nielson explained that almost everything in the universe was created to be acted upon, but we as children of God were created to act. We see things that need to be corrected, and Satan tempts us to be an object that is acted upon rather than an agent that acts. He wants us to wait for others to solve the problem without using the divinely given gift of agency ourselves. God has given us the power to act for ourselves, so we should use that agency to choose to follow Christ and help others along the way.

I went on exchanges with Elder Zaugg this past week, and we were determined to work really hard. We went around trying to contact some potentials. We were able to see some really cool miracles. We were having dinner at Carl's Jr, and as we were sitting there I saw a guy walk up to a table outside. I recognized him as a young man that the sisters in Red Bluff were teaching. He moved up here, and the sisters lost contact with him. We went to talk to him, and were able to figure some stuff out. He lives within the boundaries of the Young Single Adult branch, so hopefully we should be able to start teaching him soon! Miracles happen!

I love you all, and I hope you all have an awesome week! 

Elder Nielsen

P.S. We went up to the top of our zone last P-day to do some more hiking, and we were able to go to Weed, California. We decided to buy some souvenirs...

Elder Nielsen and Elder Bradshaw

Monday, September 8, 2014

Busy, busy week!

I went on exchanges with Elder Kelly this past Wednesday. We left in the morning to go street contacting because we are really needing to find new investigators. We walked around for about an hour and there were only a few people that we were able to talk to, but we were able to have a pretty cool experience. We were walking past a house that a former investigator told us stop by about a week ago. We had tried then but no one had answered. We decided we would try to stop by again. A lady came to the door and she said, "Hello?...Oh, I'm an atheist!" We kept talking to her and she started to open up to us a bit more. She told us that she has only ever studied anti-god literature and she would like to learn more about the Christian side of things. We told her that is exactly what we do as missionaries, and we set up a time to come back by. #Miracles. I know God led us there in order to meet her!

So, we have to go on a lot of exchanges in this zone since there a lot of new missionaries. We went with the APs on Friday, and I got to go down to Rocklin. I got to travel from one side of the mission to the other to go with Elder Barney since Redding (where I am) and Rocklin are light years away from each other. We were trying to contact one of their investigators in an apartment complex but they weren't home. As we were walking back to the car we stopped and offered a lady some help by carrying her stuff inside her apartment. We helped her and talked to her a but about what we do as missionaries. She said that she hasn't found a church to go to yet. Too bad we didn't know of any churches in the area or we would have suggested some to her... hahaha, no we asked if we could come back to teach her about the LDS church and she said yes!

We had a Missionary Leadership Council meeting with President and Sister Marston on Thursday. Sister Marston spoke on a talk by Elder David A. Bednar called "The Atonement and the Journey of Mortality" from the April 2012 Ensign. She spoke on the enabling power of the Atonement, and how it gives us the means to do righteous things that we would not have had the power to do otherwise. Elder Bednar talks about Mosiah 3:19, when King Benjamin was speaking about the role of the Atonement. “For the natural man is an enemy to God, and has been from the fall of Adam, and will be, forever and ever, unless he yields to the enticings of the Holy Spirit, and putteth off the natural man and becometh a saint through the atonement of Christ The Lord." It goes along with a quote by President David O. McKay when he said, "The purpose of the gospel...is to make bad men good and good men better." The Atonement helps us to change from bad to good when we "put off the natural man," and it helps us become better in order to "(become) a saint." The Atonement really does help all of us if we allow it to. It isn't just for those who are trapped in sin with no way to get out. It is for all those who are seeking to become better people. I am so grateful for the Atonement and for it's enabling power.

We just got back from our P-day activity with the zone. We went back up to Mount Shasta City to go check some caves out, and they were pretty sweet! These caves were formed when lava went through the mountain, so it was cool to check out some of these lava tubes! We got to the back of the main section of the cave, and we saw a part that you could crawl through on your stomach to go into the lave tube even further. There were about 6 of us that decided we would try it. It was just big enough for you to squeeze through at some points, but it opened up a little bit at the end so that we could snap a picture! It was awesome!

Love you all! I hope you have a great week!

Elder Nielsen


Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Sorry 'bout that

I apologize about sending this email out late. We had a crazy day for P-day yesterday. We planned to hike Black Butte Mountain as a zone. As we were nearly at the top one of the sister missionaries rolled her ankle pretty bad and was having a very hard time walking. We were able to give her a blessing right at the top of the mountain and help her back down. It took about 75-90 minutes to hike up, and about 3 hours to hike down. After the hike we went to a barbecue at a member's house as a zone since no one had eaten since that morning. That's my story for not sending the email until today.

So we had a week packed with service! It was a lot of fun, and it made it even better that I gave a talk on service on Sunday! I love serving people, and I hope I always have the mindset of helping others. I have learned that being selfish really isn't fun at all. We helped one of our investigators move a bunch of her stuff in and out of storage. She was very grateful, and what is really exciting is she has been progressing well recently. She came to church this last week and seemed to really enjoy it. We should be meeting with her again today.

We had a cool experience on Sunday after church. The program during the sacrament meeting was compiled of having the parents of missionaries who have left from this ward speak for 3-5 minutes. The topic they spoke on was how their son/daughter's is learning from their mission and experiences they have had. I really enjoyed being able to listen to the things that we said by these others missionaries all over the world. One of the missionaries said that he has been trying to rely on the Spirit a lot more by taking action if someone comes to his mind. That action usually takes the form of a phone call or a visit. As we left an appointment after church Sunday one of our investigators came to my mind. We decided we would go see him and try to follow the Spirit. He was having dinner at the time, but he told us that he actually wanted to talk to us about getting a Bible. It was really neat because the door is open for further Gospel conversation with him now! I love when days are filled with little miracles like those!

Elder Nielsen

Monday, August 25, 2014

Redding, CA

So, I am now in the great city of Redding, CA! I am really enjoying it here so far. We have a truck for our mode of transportation, and it is so awesome! I am kind of out of practice with driving, since I have been riding a bike most every day for about a year. We cover the Redding 5th ward, as well as the Shasta YSA. We cover 2 stakes worth of area overall, but we usually just stay in the city of Redding.

We don't have a whole lot of investigators to work with right now, but I am looking forward to doing what we can to find the people who have been prepared for us to find them. We are helping people become reactivated mostly right now, and the ward is helping a number of people in that area. I am really enjoying how the ward is working together in this ward. They are very unified, and the members of the ward understand their purpose to reach out and bless others.

I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting this past week. I didn't end up giving it because the speakers before me went long, but I am going to speak next week instead. I was asked to speak on how we show our love for God. I pretty much boiled my talk down to the topic of service, and I really enjoyed preparing for it. I was really able to increase my understanding of what the Gospel has done for me, and what it can continue to do for me.

One of the biggest things I got out of preparing the talk is how the way we treat others really is the essence of the Gospel. I see that one of the main purposes of the Gospel is to help us become more like our Savior and to treat others how he treated them. It really made me think how I have treated others in the past, and how I want to treat others in the future. I want to say that I gave my life in helping others feel better about themselves, just like the Savior did. I know
I am not there yet, but I am going to use a quote that I have loved for years to help me.

"You become who you want to be by
consistently being who you want to
become each day."

I choose to be like the Savior!

Love you guys! Have a great week!

Keeping it real in Redding,
Elder Nielsen

Monday, August 18, 2014

Transfers

So we got transfer calls last night, and I found out that I am leaving Red Bluff this time around. I am getting transferred up to Redding, which is the northernmost zone in the mission. I am gonna be Zone Leader up there, so it should be fun! I am nervous about it, but I am looking forward to it as well. I'm sure I will be able to learn a lot with all the new experiences in store!

We were biking about 20 minutes outside the city this past week to go visit a family. It turns out that while we were biking to their house we saw them drive the other way, so it kind of put a damper on that plan! We had already biked a good ways, so we found the nearest neighborhood and started knocking on some doors. We were able to see a couple neat miracles. In about 7 houses we gave 2 people a copy of the Book of Mormon and set up to come back another time. The Lord definitely knows what he is doing, and I know he had a perfect plan for that situation that day!

I am so grateful for the chance that I have been able to serve in Red Bluff. It was an amazing experience. I have realized how short the mission really is, so I am planning to work even harder throughout the rest of my mission. I am so grateful for all the people I had the chance to meet here. The mission really has changed my life, and I hope it will continue to make me a better person!

Love you guys!

Elder Nielsen

P.S. We taught the Plan of Salvation using some chalk this past week to one of our investigators. She is 9, and it was a blast! Here's a picture of us (you can kind of see the sidewalk drawings in the background).



Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Huey & James's baptism!

Hey everybody!

This week ended well with Huey and James getting baptized! I am so happy for them, and for the changes they have made. They have told us how much happier they have been since the have been progressing to this point, and they are both excited to continue on in the Gospel and prepare to enter the Temple. We are trying to get them a lot of fellowship in the ward right now. They have met a lot of people and made a lot of friends, and so we are just trying to keep the ball rolling. They are both excited to receive a calling and serve others, so it will be neat to see them be able to do that soon.

This could be my last week in Red Bluff, so I am going to enjoy it while I can. I don't know if I am going to stay another one here, but I would love to. Red Bluff has been amazing so far, so I would be totally fine with staying another transfer.

This past week I was studying the topic of "Knowing God." Not in the sense of actually having seen him, but just having a personal and close relationship with him. There is a definite difference between knowing God and knowing of God. I feel like I have come to know God so much more as I have served him, and there is still a lot of room for improvement. I can honestly say that I love my Heavenly Father, and I know He has a perfect plan for ALL of us. I know that as long as we follow Christ as best we can then everything will work out he way it is supposed to. I hope to continue to strengthen my relationship with my Father in Heaven.

Love you all!

Elder Nielsen
P.S. Huey is the one on the left, and James is on the right. If it has been too long that you can't recognize me then I am the one sporting the TIE FROM ITALY!!! Thanks Erika and mom. You guys are the best.

Monday, August 4, 2014

"I ain't afraid of no ghosts"

Sister Nielsen and I had another competition this week. We were having a meeting at our ward mission leader's house, and he brought out the ghost peppers. Sister Nielsen hadn't had her "initiation" into the ward yet, so I was going to eat one pepper with her. It turned into a competition to see who could eat more, and we ended up eating 10 each. It felt alright for a little bit, but then my stomach started killing and my body started tingling. The rest of the day my stomach felt like it was burning it's way through my body. The pain didn't end up going away until I puked about 8 hours after the competition. Note for anyone one who is thinking of it; never have a ghost pepper eating competition.

Huey and James are both preparing to be baptized this Saturday. It is so exciting to see heir desire to follow and to grow closer to Christ. I am so happy for them. On another note, we are still handing out a Book of Mormon during part of church in order to get the ward more excited to do missionary work. We were waiting for a minute, because no one was raising their hand to take the Book of Mormon. All of a sudden Huey volunteered to take a Book of Mormon! It is so cool to see how he wants to share the Gospel with his friends and neighbors already.

Recently I have been pondering on how important our time in this life really is. This life is so small compared to eternity, so we need to use every day to improve to become more like Jesus Christ. I know this Gospel is true, and our Father in Heaven will help us as we do our best to overcome weakness and to come unto Christ.

Love you guys.

Elder Nielsen


Ghost pepper competition between Elder Nielsen and Sister Nielsen.