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