Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Lord, I Believe

Dear Friends and Family,

This week has been a very fun week, full of lots of service and that's about it.  We have been helping a member move across town for the last week and a half so that has pretty much filled our week. But that is good since we get to meet many people while serving.

Monday we took some time out in the morning to help the member move.  The one thing that is hard about moving people in England is that if they have a second story flat or home, you have to take most of the big items out the window. That was a very fun experience to say the least.  It reminds me of the commercial back in the States with the moving guys trying to move a grand piano out of the window.  You probably can guess what the outcome is.  But no worries, we did not move a piano out of the window but a few other heavy things.

Tuesday we taught a lesson in the morning to an investigator and then back to help the members move the rest of the day.  The family that we have been helping, the father is into rebuilding old cars. So needless to say, we have moved lots of car parts and I am amazed at the value of some of these parts.

Wednesday we helped them all day, again.  In the morning we helped take down the Snooker table.  It is like a pool table except the padded rails are a different shape.  So I thought our pool table back home was heavy, but I was just fooling myself. So the family hired a company to take down the Snooker table but they needed extra bodies on the slate to get it down the stairs. So guess who came to the rescue, the Missionaries became the extra bodies.  Man oh man was it heavy.  We had five pieces of slate to take down a flight of stairs. They had to weigh above three hundred pounds each!  It was an exciting adventure.  After we finished up with the Snooker table later that night my companion and I got to go fishing.  I think that I had mentioned the fish pond in my last letter where Elder Larsen and I dared each other to touch the electric fence around the pond, well yea those are the fish the Elders and the families son were catching by hand except the trying thing was that it was dark.  We had a great time.

Thursday we went on exchange.  I stayed in Kidderminster and Elder Larsen went to Redditch.  It is about a two hour train ride each direction. So not much got done on Thursday.

Then Friday was District meeting and interviews.  Elder Larsen and I traveled into Harborn.  Harborn is a town similar to Draper, Utah and Birmingham is like Salt lake City, Utah.  So Harborn is on the outskirts of Birmingham. We took two trains and two buses to get to Harborn.  The first train ride was great but when we got onto the second train and it was pretty much a wild mouse ride.  And you guessed it, I started to get motion sick.  To make matters worse we then had to run and catch our first bus.  So that just added to the feeling of queasiness.  By the time we got to the Chapel in Harborn I was car sick and motion sick, not a good combination and I was not a happy camper.  So after spending the day in Harborn, my stomach calmed down and I was not looking forward to the travel back to Kidderminster.  Thank goodness, I was lucky enough to sleep on the way back home.

Saturday was kind of a catch up day for the things we needed to get done for the week.  Sunday was  Church and going by less active members who usually make it to Sacrament Meeting who didn't make it this week.  The work is progressing slowly in Kidderminster but it has given me time to study the scriptures and serve others and I have noticed that the more I study and learn the stronger my testimony of the Gospel gets.  I have always wondered how return Missionaries get to know the scriptures so well, I have found that out!  When you have an hour devoted to scripture study alone every day you come to know them very well. I know this Church is true.  I know that a Mission is hard work but is all worth it in the end.  I have learned that when you struggle and you feel like you have lost your testimony, return to the basics of studying and praying.  I have had to do this a couple of times so far and I know that many more times will come.  I read a talk called "Lord I believe" by Elder Holland this week you can read it here lds.org Lord, I Believe I now understand what it means to have faith in Christ and his Gospel.



Thanks for your support,

Elder Nielsen

Too bad it is not a video! Did it get smashed all over!Elder Nielsen and Elder Larsen.

No comments:

Post a Comment