Wild, Wild West..coast

Hey everybody!

The beginning of church was kind of insane this past week. Rene said that he and his girlfriend were going to make it to church, and so we were waiting out in there hall for them to come so we could walk in with them. While we were waiting a lady in our ward was walking down the hall and someone opened the door right when she walked by. It turns out that she got whacked in the head pretty hard by it. Right then, Rene texted us saying that they were there, and so we went to get them from outside to show them where we were headed. On the way there someone asked us if we could give the lady a blessing since Sacrament meeting had already started and nobody had any consecrated oil. Luckily we did! We went to get Rene and Melinda real quick and we showed them where we were sitting in the chapel. Then we walked back out of the chapel to go give the lady a blessing. At this  point things had calmed down a lot, and we were able to give her a blessing in one of the spare rooms. It was a crazy and neat experience all within a couple of minutes!

The part-member family that just moved into the ward were also able to make it to church this week! They stayed for sacrament meeting and then headed home because the wife had her stroke only about a month ago, so she is still trying to recover from it. There is a less-active member that we are working with as well. He said he made a personal commitment to come to church this week, but he didn't show up. We stopped by after church, and he said that he chickened out because he didn't have the right clothes. I'm just gonna make it so the missionaries start wearing overalls to church so the people that come in different clothes don't feel uncomfortable! He said he is going to make it this next week though since he will have church clothes by then.

We got a tornado here in Roseville! We were eating dinner at a member family's house, and all of our phones got "EMERGENCY ALERT: TORNADO" texts at the same time. The members told us that tornados very rarely come to Roseville, and the last one hadn't come for a couple decades! They figured out that it wasn't a very strong tornado at all, and it was clear on the other side of Roseville. The time for the tornado warning passed, so we were alright to go and start doing missionary work again. We found out the most damage it did was broke a window and took some shingles of a roof. That is the closest I have been to a tornado though, so I was pretty pumped!

We met with the Pillay family and talked to them about General Conference coming up this next week. They said they would like to watch it, and we showed them how to get to the video on the internet to watch it live. We pulled it up, and it said the Women's session was starting in about 45 minutes. We made sure to get out of there just in time for the mom and daughter to watch it! They also broke the news to us that they are moving in about 2 months. I was kind of bummed to hear it, so I joked with them and asked if they were moving to Orem, UT. I was hoping they would say yes, but nope. They told us they bought a house in a gated community right there within the ward boundaries though! I thought they were moving somewhere really different because they had told us they want to move to Oregon within a couple of years. I am super excited because the ward will be able to stay in contact with them and continue to fellowship them!

I love you guys! Have an awesome week, and enjoy general conference!

Elder Nielsen

March is marching on...haha.....ha...

Hey everyone!

Please enjoy the incredibly well thought out pun in the subject line. Really though, It is so crazy how we are almost in April 2014!

We were able to meet with a part-member family this week. They are a really nice couple that just moved into the ward. Patty, the wife, is a member. She had a stroke at the end of February and it really messed with her. She received a Priesthood blessing, and it helped her recovery A TON. The doctors were incredibly surprised to see how it all worked out. Her husband saw the difference too, and it softened his heart a bit. They haven't come to church yet since Patty is still recovering, but they should be coming this next Sunday!

President and Sister Weston stopped by to inspect our apartment this past week, and they were telling us how good it looked! President was asking us about the family that we have been teaching and we talked with him about them for a bit. He called us the next day and said that he wants to come with us on a lesson when we teach them. We are really excited, and we hope it goes well!

We are in extreme finding mode right now, because we don't have a whole lot of progressing investigators. We are going to be doing quite a bit of talking to people!

Love you guys!

Elder Nielsen

Happy "Tough day for the Color-Blind" Day!

Top o' the mornin'!

The Pillay family had us over for lunch the other day, and they fed us Indian Curry! It was so good, and super spicy! They told us that we handled it better than most people do. I guess they just breed em' strong up in Utah! They are such an awesome family. They told us they would like the time to take a step back for awhile, and they said they would like to visit their family in South Africa before making the decision to move forward with baptism. They told us they are going to visit them in July, so I really hope they make the decision to be baptized. I hope that I can come back to Roseville to see it too!

Super cool miracle that we had this past week. We have been trying to find new investigators through less-actives, and it isn't always the easiest thing. Most of the less-active members in this area want nothing to do with the church, so we are having a difficult time! We were able to meet with a single sister who has an 8 year old son though. We shared a message with her and invited her to come to church. She said, "I will try my hardest." We have heard that before, and then the people don't follow through on the commitment. Fast-forward a couple days when we were sitting in Sacrament meeting right after it started. We saw the single sister and her son standing just outside the chapel, and we waved them over to come sit next to us! We haven't had very many less-active people come to church for a bit of time, so it was a very awesome miracle to see.

We went to a funeral on Saturday for a lady in the ward that passed away about a week ago. It was an interesting funeral, because the sister and her husband went to a couple of different churches throughout their lives and made a lot of close friends. The service was held in the chapel of the church, and some people from the church talked about false doctrine so it was kind of interesting. It was a really nice service though, and it was nice to have people see how we aren't the same as the Amish people! 

There is a family that we are going to go back and see this week and teach the Restoration. We have met the wife and the husband on separate occasions, and both were inconvenient times to stop by. They said we can stop by this next week, so we have hope that it is going to go well! We don't know too much about them, but we are hoping for a miracle!

This next week is going to be filled with miracles. I can feel it. Stay tuned! It's gonna be a good one.

Love you all! 

Elder Ethan "NorCal" Nielsen

Saving daylight!

Sorry for the super short email in advance. I ran out of time :p.

We had a really neat experience this week with member missionary work. We were having dinner at a member's house, and they were telling us about a friend they had been helping out just a little before we showed up. We asked about her, and asked if she would introduce us to her. She said she didn't think she would be interested in the gospel, then she said, "But who am I to judge! She can make that choice for herself!" She invited her over and we talked for a little bit. We shared the message of the Restoration with her, and she said she would prepare for baptism. She came to church this past week, and it was so cool! One of the really cool parts is that the member we were having dinner with is a recent convert, and she is doing a great job at sharing the gospel with others.

I am trying to stay positive as hard moments and days come my way, because it makes it so much more enjoyable as I do! I just have to remember that.

Love,

Elder Nielsen

"I'll Stay Where You Want Me to Stay"

Happy March!

We were getting more rain for a couple of days this past week! It really poured on Friday, and a creek in our area was close to overflowing! I love biking around in the rain, so I hope we keep getting more! We are still in quite a bit of a drought, so we could definitely use all we can get.

The Indian family we've been working with didn't make it to church this past week. We were really hoping they would be able to make it. They told us this past week that they are going to need a bit more time to figure everything out before their baptism and everything. We are going to have dinner over at their house sometime, and they are going to feed us legit Indian Curry! They said they will tone down how spicy it is for us, but we told them to make it full strength. They said they were surprised to hear that 2 white boys from Utah liked spicy food! Oh man, I love this family.

So we got transfer calls last night and I am staying in Roseville for another transfer! I was pretty surprised when I found that out. Elder Ure and I have been together for 2 transfers already, and now we are just starting a 3rd! I was thinking I was going to get transferred out of here, but I guess the Lord has something else in mind. My ward mission leader was saying that I am meant to stay to be here for the Indian family's baptism. I sure hope that is true! I made a couple of goals for myself while I have been on my mission. I wanted to: (1) Find an investigator and help them progress all the way up through baptism while I am in the area, and (2) find a family that joins the church together that I can go to the Temple to witness them being sealed as a family.

I love you all! Have a good week!

Elder Nielsen