Thoughts of My Mission

Dear Family, Friends,

This week has been a interesting one. On Monday we played basketball with the other Elders and Elder J got hurt. He twisted his knee and hasn't really been able to walk for the week. We think he either hyper extended it or tore something in it.  So that has put a damper on the plans for the week for sure.  But we made the best of it.  We have been finding with our family history fan charts this week. It has been fun. We stop people and ask them if they know what the chart is. Then we explain how much our family means to us and show them the picture of Nephi on the ship and have them read 1 Nephi 1 about how he talks about his family.  It has gone well so far.  Not to much success but it will come with time that is for sure.

Other than that a pretty boring week. We had Stake Conference this week and it was alright. They talked lots about how the Ward Council can help people in need if they are unified and working together. It was nice to hear it but hard to apply it for Missionaries. But on Sunday the Stake President gave a really good talk about how daily reading from the Book of Mormon will help us. He gave examples of how it has helped his family and even friends. It was really cool to hear.

I have some goals set for the last little bit of my Mission.  At first it was the baptize one more.  But the more and more I thought about it, it just didn't seem right.  So my goal is to get to a place spiritually were I can continue to build on the knowledge that I already have and to make sure that I am in a place were I know that I will NOT go less active down the road.  I will look into other goals to.

 Last week my family sent me a birthday/valentines box.  It had a cake mix, frosting, birthday hats, candles, candy, etc.  Elder J and I baked the cake and it was really good. We ate the whole box of goodies in two days. I told Elder J this box is going to ruin my diet so I had two cheat days and we just ate the whole box of goodies and the cake. Lots of candy and sweets. I was a little sick after that though, but all is good. 

I have been reading the book Infinite Atonement and it is a very good book. It has answered questions that I have had about the Atonement and not only that these questions have led to deeper questions that have been answered with the scriptures. 

I think the tender mercy for the week was having a chat with President Rasmussen.  I gave my departing testimony in Zone Conference this week as there is not another one before I go home.  But I talked to him about how things went with Elder P and President just told me that I had done the best that I could with what I was given. I think the miracles I have witnessed on my Mission have been walking away from getting hit by the car, Ingrid and her family, and the blessing I received from the Ward Mission Leader while serving in Cannock. Those have been I think the most defining moments of my Mission. Ones that I will not forget.

My favorite person for the week is the Bro. and Sister Grey. They are from Nottingham and worked in the Mission office for 18 months as the Finance secretaries. And I got to see them at Stake Conference this week.  Elder Grey had helped me get over some of the things that had happened with Elder P and has always been a good friend to me.

Well I am out of time.  This blog post is just a reflection of my thoughts this week.  May you all be blessed with the spirit of the Lord.

Love, Elder Nielsen