The little things.

This was an awesome week. There were some struggles, but they're all working out. We had another zone blitz this past Thursday. That is where all of the missionaries in our zone go work in one area for the day. It was pretty awesome, and we were able to see some good things. We ended up knocking on doors for about 4 1/2 hours, and that was pretty fun. We had a cool experience knocking on this one lady's door. She started talking to us and she told us she was from Italy; I liked her instantly from that moment. She told us some of the struggles that she's going through. We have offered to share our message with her and we promised that it would bless her life. She said her husband wouldn't be willing to let us come over. We talked to her for a little while and said a prayer with her on her doorstep. She was really touched, and as we walked away she just kept saying goodbye on the doorstep. It was awesome to see how the little things we do can bless others lives.

I also went on exchanges in Auburn this past week. We weren't able to see tons of people during the day because we were helping out with service in the morning and afternoon, but we were able to see some people in the evening. The last people we ended up seeing were very friendly. They told us some of the family struggles that they are going through right now, and we were able to share a message that applied to them. The mother was crying and you could definitely tell that they felt the spirit. They thanked us for coming over, and we headed back home. It was an awesome experience. I am grateful for the simple little experiences that I have had that have helped me to more fully appreciate my mission. I know God has a plan for each of us, and he is working in our lives every single day.

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

Elder Nielsen

Week 6 of 7

So this is our really long transfer of 7 weeks. This is week 6, so it is kind of weird!

We are seeing a lot of progress with a couple of our investigators this past week. Teresa says she is a lot more confident that she is going to be baptized soon. She is currently just praying to know when she should be baptized.

We had a really funny dinner last night. We are eating with the family, and the table we were at was large and full of people! They had a microfiber tablecloth, so whenever liquid spilled on it it would just bead up instead of soak into the tablecloth. It turns out that I knocked over my glass, and the water ran in between all of the plates on the table and landed in the lap of the girl across from me! It was so hilarious and terrible at the same time. That kind of thing would never happen again if I were to try 1,000 times.

I found a really great quote a bit ago. President Boyd K. Packer said "The Atonement has practical, personal, everyday value; apply it in your life. It can be activated with so simple a beginning  as prayer." I love that because it shows how infinite the Atonement really is. The Atonement is meant for the mountains that we cannot overcome completely without Christ, and it is also for the everyday things that stretch us just a tiny bit further then our comfort zone. I am trying to remember that the Atonement isn't just for the end of the day accounting before Heavenly Father where I ask for forgiveness for wrongdoings, but it can be used throughout the day to strengthen me as well.

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

Elder Nielsen

Elder Nielsen got a haircut today.

20 means maturity...

Hey everybody!

This last week was awesome. Richie, one of our investigators, came to church this past week. He is such an awesome guy. He set up an activity for the ward to go on a hike, and tons of people are planning on going! It sounds like he is getting a lot of good fellowship, and he is already helping out with the ward! He is planning on being baptized on January 31st and he announced it during Elder's Quorom on Sunday. I am so glad we have the opportunity to work with him.

So I turned 20, so I am officially no longer a teenager! It feels pretty good now, except everybody is still going to think that I am really young. Every comments on how young I look, and then they ask how old I really am. 20 sounds a lot older than 19, so it might surprise them even more now!

Things are going well here, and time is going by so fast. It is crazy that we are almost halfway through January already.

There was an awesome sunset the other day, so we decided to snag a picture of it.

Love you all! Have a great week!

Elder Nielsen

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

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.

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

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