New Area, New Companion, New Spirit and Committment

It is funny to me how a new Area (Town), a new companion and new people to teach can renew a Spirit.  I have found that with my latest transfer.  My commitment to Missionary work and my soul have been once again uplifted and we are seeing some success in the Cannock area.
 
My new Area, Cannock, is about the same size as Kidderminster.  But not as spread out which is good which means less time on the bike and more time teaching and finding.  The Ward is nice with many young families.  I didn't think that I would ever say this but it has been nice to hear little kids run around again it has been a long time since I have been in a Family Ward.  Since my transfer, Elder Bass and I have been trying to get into contact with the investigators.  I seems throughout the Mission that when we have a transfer that all the investigators kind of fall back a few steps and we have to become friends again before we can start sharing our Plan of Happiness and Testimonies with them.  The good news is that we have made contact and will be meeting with them this coming week. Yeah!

We had a really cool experience this week.  We were tracting in a really "rough" area and we saw a mini bus parked outside a house.  The mini bus peaked our interest so we decided to knock on the door and visit with the owner.  As we knocked, we heard all these kids screaming and then one answered the door.  The dad came to the door and we talked to him for a few minutes and asked how many kids he had.  He replied 14 kids!  So that explained the mini bus for us but it was a door open and an interest peaked about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  But as we were talking to him we all of a sudden saw a line of kids pushing their faces to the window looking at us.  Laughing and making faces.  It was a fun experience to see all of those happy kids and hopefully we will get to teach them this week.  We told the Ward Mission Leader about our contact and he told us if they want to come to Church we need to let him know ASAP because with the amount of kids the family has it will DOUBLE the attendance of Primary and they will need more help.  Isn't that exciting! Elder Bass and I have been praying that we will get some people to teach and to get things moving and hopefully this is will be an answer to our prayers.  That was one of the highlights of the week.  The other was the other team of Missionaries had a baptism Saturday night. And I had the opportunity of standing in the Confirmation Circle!  This has been the first opportunity of my whole mission! It was a really cool experience to stand there as a convert is confirmed and given the Gift of the Holy Ghost. What a cool experience!

The rest of the week we have been on exchanges with the other Elders in the Area.  So it is back to traveling two to three times a week for me, but I like being busy and seeing the sites as we are traveling.  This week we went with the Zone Leaders.  So I had the privilege of riding in a car and doing Missionary work.  It has been almost a year since I have ridden in a car.  All of my travel thus far has been by bus, train and bike so it was really fun.  I forgot how much I missed going on exchanges with other Elders.  It is really fun because you get to know other Elders but it is hard as well because we usually get back to our own Area just absolutely tired. 

My little brother has asked me "What can I do to prepare for a Mission".  These are my thoughts, start by reading the Book of Mormon on your own and praying about its truthfulness.  We can only live off borrowed light for so long and there comes a time that we need to find the answers for ourselves.  I am having a great Mission, it is one of the hardest things I have done in my life but would not change it for all the money in the World.

I have been reading Doctrine and Covenants this week and have been reading all the scriptures that talk about how this is the last time the Lord is going out in the vineyard.  It was pretty cool to read that because I had just read Jacob 5 about the labors.  But as I was reading it finally hit me that we are close to the Savior Coming.  I don't know when He will come, but my studying has lit a fire under me to work harder.  Because of the promise that the Lord is with us and helping us.  And if we work hard we are going to lay up sheaf's and have plenty of success.  The Lord will bless us as we help him!

Thank you for all of the birthday wishes.  I still can't believe that I am 20, I still feel like a teen but a little wiser in the decisions that I have ahead of me.  Hope all is well!





Love, Elder Nielsen

New Flat Address is:
37 Hudson Way
Heath Hays
Cannock
WS11 7ZQ