Transfers be happenin' in the Golden State

Hey there everybody!

Everything is going pretty awesome here in Citrus Heights! We are still teaching Bob, and he is doing awesome! He can't read small print very well, so his wife is reading the Book of Mormon to him every day. She isn't a member of the Church either, so it is really exciting stuff! We taught them the plan of salvation this past week, and it went really well! 

We also met with Chris this week as well. He is the guy that got out of prison a bit ago and is wanting to change his life around. He told us that he is on parole, so he is going to have to wait until he isn't anymore so that he can be baptized. He told us that he was kind of bummed about that, but he is just going to be patient and look forward to the day when he can be baptized! We showed him a bible video this past week about the good Samaritan, and Chris talked about how he has gone around finding ways to help people as well. We told him that he is already preparing to take upon him the name of Jesus Christ by looking for those opportunities to serve the people around him.

Elder Nielsen got to go to the Sacramento Temple last week.

We got transfer calls yesterday, and I am staying here in Citrus Heights in the Tempo Park ward! Elder Tomblin is getting transferred way up North to Andersen, so I will be getting a new companion. His name is Elder Peek, and I have heard that he is a pretty cool guy! I am looking forward to working with him. He is coming in tomorrow morning at 10:30, so hopefully everything goes well with that!

I hope you all have an awesome week! Love you all!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Citrus Heights is my homeboy.

Hey there everyone!

We have still been teaching a guy that just got out of the hospital a couple of weeks ago. His name is Bob, and he came to Church with his wife, Lois, this past week. Apparently when Lois was younger, she asked for her name to be removed from the records of the Church. They both seem pretty interested though, and Bob said that he is looking forward to being baptized. Unfortunately, because of his 4-way bypass surgery he isn't able to get baptized because of the scars that still need to heal a bit more. He said that his doctor would clear him in a couple months, so I am looking forward to that! Their hearts are so open and have been so prepared to receive the Gospel, it is crazy! They will ask questions and then say, "Oh, ok!" It is kind of a relief to have people like this that we are teaching, because almost no one else is like Bob and Lois!

I have really noticed the blessings of obedience as I have been out on my mission. The Lord gives us commandments in order to give us blessings in our lives. It is like he shows us a safe full of blessings, and then holds out the key to us just waiting for us to take it. The key is His commandments and the things he asks us to do so that we can stay close to Christ and to the Spirit as we go throughout our lives. If we obey the Lord, then we take the key and we are able to open the safe that is full of blessings just waiting to be claimed! I know that it is kind of a cheesy analogy, but that is really how it is!

I went on exchanges this past week with Elder Gull. He is from Spanish Fork, so not that far from the hometown in Orem, UT! He is a really cool guy, and we were able to work well this past week. We were able to see a lady that we gave a Book of Mormon to, and she told us that she found out that one of her coworkers is LDS. She told him that she was going to start reading the Book of Mormon! It is pretty exciting when we meet people that are open to hearing the Gospel!

Transfers are coming up this next week, so I will have some news on what happens in the next email! Maybe I will get transferred somewhere else! Probably not though, cause my companion has been here for 5 transfers.

Love you all! I hope you all enjoy this week!

Love,

Elder Nielsen

Rain in Citrus Heights

Hello everyone! Happy Labor Day!

So, as you can tell by the subject line, it rained here in Citrus Heights! It started this morning, so I decided I would go enjoy it a little bit! I was in all of my missionary clothes, but I just stood there in the rain for a little bit...and it was awesome. 

So, we just had Zone Conference this past Wednesday. President Weston came and talked to us a bit and made a couple exciting announcements. He told us that we had been chosen as one of 12 test missions that will be able to use Facebook! I'm not sure if it is actually just that many missions, because I have heard of a couple other missions that use Facebook too. It seems like it would be less common to hear about missions like that!

We had a pretty crazy experience this week. Chris Oerding, the investigator that has been preparing for baptism, just got married. We actually had the chance to help him out with it! We were rushing back from Zone Conference, since the wedding was on the same day as the conference. We were about 15 minutes late, and we still had to go pick up rings for them! We just bought some pretty cheap rings that were only around 10-20 dollars, and I actually picked her ring out! That means that I will be ready to pick my wife's ring out! It is really cool though, because Chris is now living the law of chastity so he can be baptized! He is really wanting to get baptized soon, so hopefully it can take place within the next 2 weeks or so!

Over the past couple weeks, I have really come to love learning from the scriptures more than I ever have in my life. Lehi said that he "delighteth in the scriptures," and I have come to feel the same way more than I had before my mission. The scriptures are such a powerful tool to learn and teach, and they provide such wonderful examples of the Lord and His prophets so that we may learn the principles of the Gospel.

I love you guys so much! Hope you all enjoy this next week!

Love,
Elder Ethan Nielsen

Working hard & seeing prayers answered

Hello everyone!

This week, President Weston called us letting us know that he wants us to split up the area between the 2 sets of elders. We met and cut the area down one of the major roads, and now we have a much smaller area! Our original area was made up of about 4 subsections, and we got 1 area while the other elders got the other 3. The area we got is really busy with work though, and there are a lot of apartment complexes there too.

We are teaching a guy named Chris, and he is super solid. He got out of prison a couple months ago, and he was in there for about 8 years. He is engaged to a member of the Church who is somewhat less-active. They have been living together for a little bit, so we taught them the Law of Chastity last night, and Chris committed to live it! They said they are planning on getting married ASAP, and they are hoping they can get married this week! Our ward mission leader told us that as ministers of the Gospel, we are technically authorized to perform a marriage. It would be super sweet to be able to say I performed a marriage while on my mission! The Bishop will probably end up performing it though, so it will be super cool. We had taught him on Saturday as well, and he told us that he wanted to be baptized. It kind of caught us off guard, because we weren't even talking about baptism right then. Since he just recently got out of prison he will probably have to wait until he is off parole, but he has a really strong desire to be baptized! It is going to be super cool, because I might be able to go to the Temple when they get sealed together. Going to the temple to see a family that I taught get sealed together is one of my goals on my mission, and hopefully this is it!

I went on exchanges on Tuesday with Elder Larsen. We made sure to do a good job at planning, and making sure we were specific in our prayers. We have had a tough time setting up lessons recently, but since we were praying more specifically in order to set up lessons we were able to set 3 up! It was a really neat experience showing me how much Heavenly Father recognizes even our little efforts. It kind of relates to what someone had said to our district a couple of weeks ago. They said, "It is the Lord's work, so let Him do some of it." It definitely helps to include our Father in Heaven as we are trying to serve Him and His children.

Love you guys so much!

Elder Nielsen

Playing basketball with the neighbors (Ethan on the hoop)

A photo taken by a ward member. He loves the ward he is serving in (so does his mom!).

Missionary work in California

Hello everyone!

We started teaching an investigator named Chris this week. He is about 27 years old, and he just got out of prison pretty recently. I think he was in prison for about 8 years or so. He is a super cool guy who wants to do what is best for his fiance, her daughter, and himself. His fiance is a somewhat less-active member, so they are going to get married coming up here pretty soon. He has been reading the Book of Mormon, and he says he really wants to know what is the right path for him. He committed to pray about the Book of Mormon, so we are looking forward to him getting his answer! If he gets baptized, he and his fiance say they are going to get sealed in the temple! It is super exciting because the temple is what we are trying to get these people to aim for, and that is what it is looking like for him and his fiance!

Transfers are coming up in about 3 weeks or so, and I am pretty excited for them! Transfers are always pretty exciting, so that is definitely something to look forward to.

It has been pretty nice weather the past week or so, and I am loving it! It has been around 90, and it is tons better than the 100s that it has been at. Humidity in some places around the country like Oklahoma would be killer, though...

Sorry, there wasn't a whole lot in this letter. I love you all! Keep living the life!

Elder Nielsen

The Tempo Park Foursome

Hello everyone!

So this past week we got some new elders in our ward, so we have 4 elders serving in our ward alone! We also have a set of sisters that cover our ward and another ward, so the Lord definitely wants some work done in our ward!

The new elders are Elder Sampson and Elder Gillies. Elder Sampson is from Pleasant Grove, UT, and Elder Gillies is from Kaysville, UT. They are both awesome elders, and they are teaching me a ton. They are super good at finding new investigators, and they have helped us get better at it too. We go over to their apartments to have lunch and breakfast sometimes, and we have been showing them around our area quite a bit. Elder Sampson was on the BYU football team as a linebacker. He red-shirted his freshman year then went on his mission, so I am going to be close friends with a BYU football player!

Elders Gillies and Sampson found a new investigator as they were walking to church, and they were able to get him to come to church. That night, we were all at a member's house eating dinner, and they had invited him over as well since he is homeless. He got kicked out of his house about 3 days ago by his dad, so he has been just looking for help. We were able to teach him about the Gospel, and he is looking to get baptized on September 7th! It was a really cool lesson, and I could feel the Spirit a ton! It is amazing how much the Spirit helps you teach if you listen to what is being said and trying listen to the Spirit!

I am definitely getting more comfortable talking to people! I am having an easier time just talking to people, but now I am just working on how to talk to them in order to teach them the Gospel! It is definitely working out though, and the Lord is helping me so much!

I love you guys a ton. Best wishes from the west coast!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Hello everyone!

This week was a pretty neat week, as most every week has at least something cool to go with it. 

I went on exchanges for the first time this week. The missionary I was with was Elder Ewell. We had a really neat experience with a girl named Kaylee, who is about 18 years old. We were riding our bikes, and she was just sitting down on the curb. We rode our bikes up to her and just started talking to her. She told us that her boyfriend had gotten her pregnant when she was 15, she got an abortion, and that the same boyfriend lost her book of about 70 poems that she has been writing since she was about 12. She was crying as she told us this. We told her that she was a precious daughter of God, and that there is hope through the Gospel. We talked to her a little bit more, gave her our number, and then left to go to another appointment. A couple hours later she texted us saying, "Thank you guys so much for talking to me. You saved my life." When I read that text, I was shocked. It was so cool to see the impact of just talking to someone has. I've always wanted to save someone's life, and now I have. It was just in a different way than I expected!

We got transfer reports yesterday (Sunday), and there are going to be some pretty crazy things happening! The ward I am serving in will be getting another set of Elders! Elder Sampson is the name of one, and he will be training so we aren't sure who the other Elder is yet. Elder Tomblin, my companion, is now District Leader. I'll be going on at least 1 exchange a week now!

Love you guys,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Ethan learned that to let a horse know that you want to be friends you sniff its nostrils??

Their apartment in Citrus Heights 

Elders Nielsen (left) and Tomblin (right)

(L-R) Elder Ashby, Elder Tomblin, Elder Nielsen & Elder Sampson