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

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).

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.

"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.

Peace out, July.

James is doing really well. He told us yesterday that he is excited for his baptism, and he has been doing awesome with the Word of Wisdom ever since we taught it to him. Huey is doing awesome as well. We have been talking to him about the things that happen after baptism, and he is wanting to prepare to go to the temple to do baptisms for the dead. He has been telling us that he is very excited to be baptized and to receive a calling. He wants to serve The Lord and others so much, and he keeps saying he can't wait until he is able to serve with a calling. We had a "Linger, Longer" after church on Sunday, and Huey was right there helping alongside everyone to get everything set up. On another note, we are trying to get the member missionary effort in the ward rolling more, so we have been doing a couple different things during Priesthood Opening exercises in order to get the members more excited. We were asking if anybody had a missionary experience in the past week, and a couple people shared their experiences. After a little bit, Huey stood up and told everyone how much of a blessing we have been to him. He mentioned how grateful he is that we rode up on our bikes that day and talked to him. I am so grateful for the opportunity that I have had to be able to serve here in Red Bluff so far. I am loving it.

A member talked to us about going to help a lady try and fix her roof, so we  borrowed a ladder from a member that lived close by. After checking her roof out for a bit we started talking to her and asking her what she knew about the church. We ended up teaching her the Restoration and committing her to baptism on September 13th! It was such an awesome miracle. After that we took the ladder back over to the member's house...on our bikes. It was a lot of fun!

The mission is going awesome. I love it so much. Even though it ain't the easiest sometimes, it is so worth it.

Love you guys!

Elder Nielsen

I Love the Gospel

I just wanted to start off by explaining how great the Gospel is. I know I would be a totally different person without the Gospel in my life from a young age. I am grateful for parents who faithfully attended church and taught me the Gospel while I was young. There are many reasons why I believe the Gospel is true, not the least of which is being able to see the life-changing influence of it in my life and the life of others.

James and Huey are both doing super good. They are going to be baptized on August 9th, and they have such an amazing desire to change their lives. They both smoked before they started living the Gospel, and now they are both doing really well with the Word of Wisdom. They have told us that they have seen the blessings already, and they are excited for baptism. We found them both by talking to people on the street. I love them so much, and they are amazing people with good hearts.

I have been making smoothies for breakfast recently, and it is so awesome. I made a strawberry-banana smoothie this morning, and put some spinach in it too. I thought it would taste a little worse than without spinach, but it was delicious! I'm planning on opening up a smoothie shop out of our apartment. If you want a piece of the profit then invest quick, because the business is going to take off.

We decided to bike to P-day this week instead of getting a ride. Red Bluff is about 25 miles from Anderson, so it is a pretty decent bike ride. It just so happens that we missed a turn and ended up going another 5 miles or so. It was a lot of fun, and we were able to take some pretty sweet pictures of road signs on the way there!

P.S. Please don't let this super cool road sign distract you from the fancy Happy Socks, provided by mama.

Missionary stuff from Red Bluff

We stopped and talked to a lady named Susan on the street as we were biking around last week, and we set up a time for us to stop by again. She didn't seem 100% there, but we were doing the best we could with what we had so we went with it. When we went over to try and meet with her we ended up talking to her neighbor,  Kevin, who was working on his motorcycle in front of his apartment. He told us a bit about himself, and how he never really had the Gospel in his life. We taught him a bit about he message of the Restoration, and when we invited him to learn more he said "I would like that. I need that in my life." We gave him a Book of Mormon, and set up a time to come by again. It was pretty neat to see, because we were doing the best we could with who we were working with and we ended up picking up a more solid investigator. The Lord blesses us as we try our best!

James is doing so well in the Gospel so far. It has been so neat to see his progression in just the few short weeks that we have been working with him. Every time we have an appointment we have him pray at the end, and his prayers have become progressively more sincere every time. He has realized how much he is truly searching for the truth, and he has been praying for God to guide him to what is right. He came to church this past week, and he really enjoyed it! He said he is going to come back next week. He is such an awesome guy, and I love working with him because of his sincerity and real intent.

Huey is doing great as well. He is still preparing for his baptism on August 2nd, and he is excited for it. He gave up smoking this past week, and he told us "No more cigarettes. I promise." Huey is so amazing. He has so much faith, and he has such a kind heart. He has been coming to church every week for the past couple weeks and things are going well. He is almost through 2nd Nephi right now, and he just keeps chugging along through he Book of Mormon. He loves it, and it is so awesome to see his testimony and how it has grown.

Love you guys! Have a good week!

Elder Nielsen