Greetings from Roseville!

So it is definitely weird getting transferred after being in one area
for a couple of months. It is kind of hard to learn the new area as
quick as possible, but I'm trying! Roseville is a really cool place,
and I have really enjoyed it so far. The ward is awesome, and the Ward
Mission Leader is really awesome as well. He is very involved in the
work, and I am really happy about that. The Bishop is new, but he is
focusing on reaching out to rescue those that have not been able to
make it to Church in quite a while, so I am looking forward to being
able to get a lot of work done!

We have a baptism coming up this week! Her name is Rachel, and she is
a really awesome lady. She has a bunch of tattoos, and she used to
drink and smoke and a bunch of stuff. She really turned her life
around in just the month that she has been meeting with the
missionaries, and it is awesome! Her baptism will be this Saturday,
and Elder Herrador will be baptizing her. We also had a really sweet
experience with another investigator. We went to visit her in a rest
home, because she gets really lonely and down a lot. We shared a
spiritual thought with her, and started talking to her about baptism.
We weren't planning to, but that is the way the conversation went. We
were able to set a baptismal date with her for November 30th! It was a
really cool miracle that we were able to witness and be a part of.

Some news from my last area - the Tempo Park Ward: Bob and Lois's
baptism date got moved up to the 23rd of November, and so I am looking
forward to going to that. Elder Peek, my last companion, also told me
that Bob wants me to baptize him! Elder Peek is going to baptize Lois, and
I am going to baptize Bob! It is going to be an exremely cool
experience, and I am really looking forward to it.

Love you all!

Elder Nielsen

Goodbye, Citrus Heights!

Well, the title says it all. I am getting transferred! I am leaving Citrus Heights, and going to the good ole' city of Roseville, California! I am sad to leave the Tempo Park ward, because it has been the best experience to be able to serve here. I am also looking forward to being able to meet all of the amazing people in the Roseville 3rd ward. 

We were able to set a couple of baptismal dates this past week! Bob finally got cleared by his doctor to get baptized anytime after the 20th of November, so we were able to set a date with him and his wife for November 30th. It is going to be a really cool experience, because Bishop told them that since Bob is doing so well with the Gospel that he will be able to baptize Lois after he gets baptized. He will come out of the font and get ordained into the Aaronic Priesthood, then he will go back into the font to baptize his wife! It is going to be a sweet experience. We were also able to set a baptismal date for the Castillo family for December 7th. The son isn't sure about baptism yet, so he is going to think about it. The parents are all for it though, so hopefully the son will be able to see how happy the parents are with the fulness of the Gospel in their lives! They said they have been super impressed so far, and they love the feeling of when they come to Church. I hope I am able to come back to see their baptisms!

That was pretty much what happened this past week! I love you all! Next stop - Roseville!

Elder Nielsen

The Lord knows best

Hey there, everyone! How's it going?!

The weather here is still feeling like summer weather, but it is starting to cool down. It feels good most days now, and it feels great when we are riding our bikes around at night! 

We went to a lesson for a Ukrainian couple with our Ward Mission Leader, Brother Wright, this past week. When we got to their house, all of the lights were off. We went up to the door and knocked, but no one answered. We were really looking forward to having a great lesson with them, but it didn't work out. Brother Wright was telling us that whenever he goes out with the missionaries the lessons always fall through. We were trying to think of people that we could go visit, so we went to see one of the families that we have been trying to teach. They weren't home either, and Brother Wright seemed to be getting pretty discouraged. We went to the gas station real quick to fill up on gas in Brother Wright's car, then we decided we would go see the Castillos. The Castillos are normally really busy, and we haven't been able to see them over at their house for quite some time since they aren't home. We stopped by, and they were all there! They invited us in, and we were able to talk for a couple of minutes. We didn't want to stay too long, since it was getting pretty late. The mom piped up and said, "We wanted to talk to you guys about getting baptized." It was super surprising! Later on she said, "So who do we talk to about getting baptized?" It was so cool to see how the Lord led us to their house. As we thought about it, we realized that we weren't supposed to see the Ukrainian family that night, but we were meant to go visit the Castillos. It is amazing to see what the Lord can do in this amazing work as we put our trust in Him and do the things that He wants us to do.

We also had a really cool experience with Robert and Francis coming to Church. Robert turned to me during one of the meetings in Church and said, "We have been meeting with the missionaries for 7 years, and this is the first time we have come to Church." They really enjoyed being able to go to Church, and we are looking forward to being able to meet with them this week!

On a fun note, we all got costumes for Halloween! Our ward mission leader, Brother Wright, was having a Halloween party at his house on Saturday night, and he told us that we could stop by. He didn't expect us to be all dressed up! Everyone there loved it, and it was a bunch of fun. We bought the costumes from a local store, and Elder Sampson dressed up like a ghost. I got the Spiderman costume. Elder Gillies is Captain America. Elder Peek, my companion, is Iron-man. There is a trunk-or-treat going on at our Church this Saturday, so we might dress up and hand out candy to the kids if we can get some of our investigators to go to it!

I hope you guys all had a great week, and I hope you all enjoy this next one. Love you all!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Happy Columbus Day, everyone!

We were able to start teaching a man named David that we have been trying to set up lessons with for quite a while. His wife is a recent convert, and they have two sons. One of the sons became a member with the mom, and the other son isn't incredibly open to the Gospel yet. It was really cool though, because David was talking about getting sealed to his family and everything. We were able to set a baptismal date with him for January 4th, 2013! It is so exciting to be in this area, because we have multiple people that are preparing for baptism. Bob and Lois are some of the others that are looking forward to baptism. Bob is still waiting on getting cleared by the doctor in order to be baptized. Because of his 4-way bypass surgery, he still isn't able to be completely immersed in water yet. 

We were able to have the Castillo family to all 3 hours of Church this week for the first time! It was really exciting, because the Young Men were able to take the son and have him participate in the youth classes. The mom was able to meet people in Relief Society, and she told one of the members that she will see her next week! We haven't been able to meet with them a ton the past couple of weeks, but we are hoping to be able to get over there more often.

So there is a sick bug going around that a ton of people have been getting. It started with one of the other Elders, and it has circulated until it finally got to me. I was hoping it would pass me up, but it had a different idea! It isn't too bad though, and I think I am getting over it. 

So the people in the Tempo Park ward feed us incredibly well. I have already gained at least 10 pounds since I have been on my mission. If I keep going at this rate I will need to get some new clothes pretty soon! I'm working on becoming a world-class jump-rope artist though, so no need to worry.

A scripture that I read this week that I REALLY like is Moroni 7:37. "...it is by faith that miracles are wrought; and it is by faith that angels appear and minister unto men; wherefore, if these things have ceased wo be unto the children of men, for it is because of unbelief, and all is vain." If we have the faith, then the Spirit will touch the hearts of the people that God is preparing to receive His Gospel. This doesn't just require the faith of the missionaries though. It involves all the people that are a part of the work of God, which is every member of the Church. The Gospel has blessed our lives, so we have to have the faith that it can and will bless other people's lives as well! God has prepared us so we are able to share the Gospel with his prepared children, so we should all strive to live up to the divine potential that our Father in Heaven has in store for us. 

Hope you all have an awesome week!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen

Loved Conference!

Hello all!

Well, General Conference was awesome. One of my favorite quotes from conference was by Elder David A. Bednar when he said, "...the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to act and change our own circumstances rather then expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else." I really like this quote, because we aren't exactly sure what blessings our Heavenly Father has in store for us. We do know, however, that Heavenly Father knows what is best for us, even if we don't always remember that in times of trial or discouragement. There is a simple passage of scripture that I really like that goes along with this. It is near the beginning of the Book of Mormon when Nephi is inviting Laman and Lemuel to have faith. They are angry with him and choose to bind him with cords.

The passage of scripture says...

"17 But it came to pass that I prayed unto the Lord, saying: O Lord, according to my faith which is in thee, wilt thou deliver me from the hands of my brethren; yea, even give me strength that I may burst these bands with which I am bound. 

18 And it came to pass that when I had said these words, behold, the bands were loosed from off my hands and feet, and I stood before my brethren, and I spake unto them again." (1 Nephi 7:17-18).

Heavenly Father answered Nephi's prayer, but not in the way that he had asked for or expected.

So transfers are still 3 weeks away, but I am kind of dreading them because I am not sure I want to leave this area quite yet! I am loving the area I am in. It would be nice to have a bit of a change, but I would like to stay for a bit longer before I ship out.

I hope you all have a great week!

Elder Ethan Nielsen

A little bit of Citrus Heights

Howdy y'all!

So, working with Elder Peek has been pretty awesome. We get along well, and the missionary work is a bunch of fun.

We met a Ukrainian family too, and that was pretty interesting. The father was kind of trying to disprove our Church, but he wasn't bringing up anything anti. He was mostly just saying that we don't know everything now, and we will all learn more about everything after we die. He and his family are Pentecostal, so they believe in the Trinity and stuff. We are going back tomorrow, so hopefully they are open to reading the Book of Mormon and finding out for themselves that what we say is true!

We tracted into a guy named Eugene Gentry last Thursday. He is a black guy in his late 50s or so, and he is awesome. We told him that we share our message about Jesus Christ, and he told us that he has faith in Jesus Christ and he knows that Christ died for him and for everyone. He actually started crying after he said that, and it was a really cool experience to see how much of a testimony that he already had. He told us that we could come back the next day, so we set up a time and told him goodbye. The next day we came back, and he invited us in and offered to make us sandwiches and stuff. Super nice guy. After that, he basically said that he did not want to waste any of our time since he already knew Christ is his Savior. We started sharing our message about the Restoration of the Gospel, and most of the time he just sat quietly listening. We told him that we have modern-day prophets today, and he said that he wants to hear the Prophet so that he can find out for himself by listening and seeing what the Prophet does to know of he was called of God. We told him that we have General Conference this next weekend, so he said that he would listen to it. He asked us how he had not heard of this before, and we told him that is why we were talking to him. As we testified of the Book of Mormon and how the fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ was restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, I felt the Spirit so strongly. He said that he would read the Book of Mormon and pray about it, and we set up an appointment to come back this next Thursday. There are few times in my life when I have felt the Spirit that strongly, and it was amazing.

General Conference this weekend is going to be so awesome! It is the start of suit-coat season, so we are going to start wearing suits every day instead of just on Sundays. Should be pretty fun while we are riding around on our bikes! 

Love you all!

Elder Nielsen

Citrus Heights, CA

Dear all,

How is everything going for you guys! 

So, like I said before, Elder Peek is my new companion. He has been out for about 10 months. He is from south Weber, UT. We get along pretty well! He is 6' 4", and we work well together.

From left to right, Elder Sampson, waitress :), Elder Gillies, Elder Nielsen, Elder Peek (new companion), Elder Gull

We have been able to get a lot of good work done. One of the really cool experiences we had was when we met with someone that has been investigating the Church for about 15 years. We asked him what concern held him back when he was meeting with the missionaries before, and he told us that he has a hard time believing that Joseph Smith could have translated the Book of Mormon and the fact that we have modern-day prophets. We asked if he had ever read the Book of Mormon before, and he told us that he had only read sections of it. We bore our testimonies, and then we committed him to read the Book of Mormon. We are meeting with him this Wednesday to read from the Book of Mormon. I love being able to teach about the Lord's promise that if we read the Book of Mormon with real intent and we are praying to know if it is true, then we WILL receive an answer. Our Heavenly Father will never fall through on His promises, so we can know that we can receive everything that he has promised us as long as we are doing our part.

I love missionary work more with every passing week. Being on a mission has really shown me how much the Gospel means to me. Without the Gospel, life would be meaningless!

I love you all, and I hope this week goes amazing for you guys!

Love,

Elder Ethan Nielsen