The busy life of an AP

Elder Nielsen was a little late getting his group message sent; they have zone conferences all week and he's been super busy. He did send a short message today and he sent a picture on Monday of the slack lining they've been doing on p-day:

This past week was a good one. We went on 3 different exchanges, and one of the ones that I went on was with an Elder Nelson. That was pretty confusing for people that we talked to! We were able to get a lot of good stuff done. I also went with Elder Duce on Saturday, and we worked very diligently. It was awesome to be back together with him again. Elder Duce has definitely been one of my favorite companions. It will be kind of lame when we can't see each other often since he will be going back up to Canada. I tried convincing him to move down to the US, but he said he is sticking to the land northward.

Happy Presidential day!

Hello everyone!

This week was kind of a slow one. We had to do exchanges, but they were kind of different this time. Since this transfer was so busy with stuff we just did two exchanges in one day, so we ended up leaving our area completely for two whole days. We weren't able to see quite as many people because of it, but it turned out ok. I was able to go to two of the zones that I served in at the beginning of my mission, so that was awesome!

Richie is struggling with his situation right now, so we fasted as a zone for him this past Sunday. We are really hoping things turn around for him. He knows the Book of Mormon is true, but his family will not allow him to join the church. They threatened to disown him, so it is really tough for him right now. We are hoping and praying for a miracle!

We had a cool experience contacting a guy who was working on his car while I was on exchanges in Roseville. We walked up to him and talked to him for a bit, and we were able to teach him about how the gospel has been restored to the earth by a living prophet in our day. One of the missionaries I was with recounted the first vision, and I could feel the spirit so strong. I love being able to just talk to random people about the gospel.

So one of the exchanges we went on was with the Elders in our zone, and the missionaries we live with went on exchanges the same time with another companionship. We pulled out the cotton "snowballs" mom had sent me, and we went crazy with them. Here is a little video
portraying the events of that fateful night.

Love you guys!

Elder Nielsen

Happy Birthday Erika!

Hey everybody!

So this was a pretty awesome week. Cindy, Meredith, and Teresa all came to church today. It was super cool. We had a lesson with Cindy on Saturday. We talked to her about the Restoration, and she said she believes it already. She feels like she could never really belong to a church, and she also mentioned how she has always wanted to get baptized but has never done it. We invited her to be baptized and she accepted a date for February 28th! She seems pretty excited for it, so I hope she continues to take steps of faith towards the waters of baptism.

We got kind of bummer news from Richie. He told us he knows the Book of Mormon is true and he knows the LDS church is true, but his entire family has threatened to disown him if he joins the church. He said it is an incredibly difficult situation for him. He told us he has to do some soul searching to figure out what he is supposed to do. It was so tough to hear that from him because has been doing so well, and his faith has been growing so much. We are trying to think of ways to soften his family's heart because that is the main issue at this point.

We moved all of the bunk beads in our apartment into the same room, so now all 4 of us elders are in there. It is a ton of fun because they are all cool Elders. We have PVC pipes that have been used for nerf wars, so we have been having a ton of wars at night.

We slack lined with a bunch of people from the zone today, and it was so awesome! It was so much fun with everybody trying it out and just hanging out. We have a ton of really cool people in our zone that I have known from other times in the mission, so I am pretty happy about it!

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

Elder Nielsen

P.S. Happy Birthday Erika! Love you tons. Hope it is a great day for you.