Reflecting on Blessings Given

Dear Friends and Family,

Not much to report this week.  I am having a scatter brained day.  Transfers were last week and I have a new companion.  He is here in the Mission as a Chinese speaking Elder.  He has been frustrated with the transferred to Derby because there are not many Chinese people.  I personally seen 3 in Derby in my 12 weeks of being here.  So he is not very happy so I have my work cut out for me for the next 3 weeks. 

Last week I spoke about getting blessings and this week I was reflecting back on the blessings that I had the opportunity to give.  They were a nerve racking experience and were both given to investigators.  One blessing that has really struck and confused me is one that I gave in Solihull to an investigator names Donald.  He was really six and he told us that the doctors had no idea what what wrong.  So we gave him a blessing.  In the blessing I told him that he would recover from the sickness.  A couple of weeks later he got more sick and came to me and said why am I not better. You said that I would get better.  Come to find out Donald had cancer for the past year and it was spreading all over his body.  I have often wondered why I was prompted to say that he would recover. Donald eventually died and I started to question why I had said that. The more and more I have thought about it he did get better and did recover.  But not in this life.  Death was his best doctor.

Tender Mercy for the week... was just sports night. I have been very frustrated with my new companion so it was good to work out some of that frustration.

Off the wall experience this week was probably going to the Mission Home for the departing Elder and Sister Missionary dinner.  They call it trunky night.  So we have dinner and a testimony meeting and then spend the night and then fly out early the next morning.  So it was a little different since I was not flying out the next morning.  But the whole funny experience was what happened at night. Twenty-four Elders in the Assistant to the President's flat all running around and being boys.  You would think that we would have matured a little bit, but no.  It was so much fun.  It was really cool to hear the different stories of everyone Mission.  Everyone was just way exited to go home so lots of jokes being told.

Hopefully I will have some better events and stories next week.  Keep praying for the Lord's work to go forth and that the honest in heart will seek Him.  I love this gospel and all of you. 

Love Elder Nielsen

Blessings of Peace and Comfort

Dear Family & Friends,

I have been feeling a little blah lately so I asked Elder O. for a blessing this week.  It was a nice blessing, just me and him feeling the Spirit bear witness and comfort me.  The blessing told me things that I already had feelings about, for example that I have done the best I could of in Solihull with a former companion and his trials and just to keep pushing forward. 

I had a former Mission President in our Ward back home comment on my last post about the fast that "I think that Elder Nielsen has got the vision of Missionary Work".  I have seen that a few Missionaries come on Missions and just want to baptize.  After realizing that I was coming to England where the work is hard, I decided that I wanted more than just to baptize.  I want to be successful in bringing myself closer to Christ and not just others.  I have seen Missionaries come and go without getting closer to Christ. So why come?  What else should I learn?

My favorite event of the week would have to be quiz night.  We had a Ward quiz night on Friday instead of games.  It is kind of like Jeopardy.  It was really fun with some off the wall questions.

Worst thing for the week......  Nothing to report. I think that this week has been a good one. Nothing really awful happened.

We have had some really good success with University students lately. They are pretty interested but hard to get a time to meet up with them because of their schedules and our rules.  They always want to meet late at night.  But we have 15 university students that we are hoping to work with in the next couple of days or a week away.

My favorite person for this week would have to be one of the Ward Missionaries.  He invited us over for dinner the other night and we ordered Chines take out. We had so much food. It was crazy.

Tender Mercy for the week was the weather.  It was sunny and about 70 degrees.  It was so nice! I got a tan on my arms.  I love the sun!  It has been nice having the sun out because people in England are affected by the weather.  If it is raining they don't want anyone to talk to them. Sunny they will stop and chat. Our success depends on the weather. Crazy ain't it.  Another Tender Mercy for the week was just the lesson in Elders Quorum.  It was a really good lesson and I learned tons.  In Elders Quorum we talked about repentance. And one of the members said a quote that went along the lines of "I would rather die physically then spiritually, that is why I repent".  And that quote started a really good discussion on repentance.

But other than that it has been a normal week.  No big moments of inspiration to share this week. Not like last week. I have found that I have to really ponder them before I truly understand them. The fasting one took a couple of months. It is crazy to think that the end of my Mission is in sight. Thanks for all your prayers and letters.

Until next week!

Love Elder Nielsen

Law of the Fast

Dear Family & Friends,

We have not been able to do anymore finding with the fan chart. The weather has not been good enough to break them out without getting them soaked. We have them covered in plastic but the rain still gets through.

My favorite moment was just playing basketball with the Ward this week for games night. We have a games night every Friday and lots of people are coming out to it. We have about twenty members that come and a couple of investigators.  Worse moment of the week was that it was just raining down yesterday after Church.  It is about a twenty minute walk home from Church and we were soaked by the first five. But we didn't melt.

We have been talking and learning lately about the traditions of our fathers. One of the Europe area Presidency gave a talk in the Mission about how it takes up to the fourth generation for the bad traditions to be broke and the only one for the good ones to be broke. 

The best part of the week was...... Fast Sunday! Fast Sunday has become one of my favorite Sundays on my Mission. At first when I got into the Mission I was like I have to fast for two meals! What are you kidding me!  But the more I have learned and grown the more I have come to enjoy going for two meals.  It is hard but worth it all the time.  I was reading in the Old Testament in the Book of Isaiah this week about fasting.  In the Book of Isaiah Chapter 58  he talks about the true law of the fast and the blessings that come with it. And I really like this verse from it. But I love the whole chapter.

3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.

 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?

6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

 7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?

I remember when I first fasted for two meals I fasted and complained. But this chapter has really helped me see the real reasons we fast. To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free. I honestly almost copied and pasted the whole chapter in this email but stopped myself. Read it, it is good.

Thanks for all of your letters and support.  Not much has changed here in Derby but seeds are being planted for the next generation of Missionaries to come.

Love, Elder Nielsen

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

Challenges

Another part of my life will be starting 8 weeks from now.  I am nervous and anxious to finish my mission and move forward.  To be truthful, I am having a bit of anxiety over what my next move in life will be.  I am sure that most if not all missionaries go through these emotions, but it will all work out.

The biggest challenge this week has been that we have no investigators really. They have either dropped us or never return calls and texts.  So it has been a rough week. We have gotten quite a few comments from one investigator who has been trying to convince us that the Book of Mormon is written by the devil and that we should get out of this Church and into hers.  It has been interesting the read her texts that she sends.  Some peoples hearts are just so hard. It has been challenging lately to find new people to teach.  Just talking to people and then having them being rude back takes all desire out of me.  So it kind of finishes me for finding the rest of the day. Elder J and I have come up with a new approach using the family tree chart and we will see if it works. We used it a little bit yesterday and had some good luck with it.  The hardest days have just been the empty ones.  The days that are filled with ten hours of street contacting. The best days are the ones when you run from teaching appointment to another one. 

Tender Mercy for the week was probably the support from the Ward Mission Leader.  He saw that Elder J. and I are having a hard time and took us to dinner and kept encouraging us to keep up the good work.

Another tender mercy for the week is that at least the weather has been good. The sun has been out and it didn't rain at all.  But we woke up this morning and it was raining.  It is the never ending cycle of England.  A week of rain and a week without.  Thought I would be used to this by now.

To be honest nothing really that interesting happened this week. It was a boring week for us. Just the same old things. Lots of finding and not a lot of teaching. It is nice though because it helps me reflect on the good weeks and learn to enjoy them more when they come.

Thanks for all you prayers and support.

Love, Elder Nielsen

Story of the Donkey who feel down the well

Another birthday year has past.  Elder J my companion asked if I felt wiser when we got up and I said no.  Hence why I fell asleep after church and burned our lovely chicken dinner. I was cooking chicken in the oven and burned it into black hockey pucks.  But the good news is that my headache went away while I was dreaming of chicken for dinner. We didn't do anything for my birthday.  An investigator offered to take Elder J. and I to the pub for my birthday bump or drink but I declined.  

Best thing about the week has been game night!  We have a game night every Friday night at the Church and lots of people come and it was really fun. We played basketball and football.  Lots of members and investigators.  The craziest thing was burning Sunday dinner like I mentioned above. Elder J. and I had enough food for one meal on Sunday so I made a big Sunday dinner.  So we spent the next two hours saying what type of food we would want and what we would do for it. 

The investigators are pretty bad right now.  Everyone is still sick and no one has been to Church. They have problems with the Book of Mormon but will not meet up to tell us about them. So it is getting pretty frustrating. But we have found some new people this week and started to teach them. But only time will tell how it goes.

I heard a cool story during Sacrament meeting.  It was about this donkey who fell down a well.  The farmer found the donkey and thought for hours on how to get it out.  He finally decided that the donkey was old and the well was dry so he invited his friends over to fill in the well with dirt. The donkey realized what was going on and started to neigh.  But soon it stopped and the farmer looked down the well and saw something amazing. With every shovel full of dirt that hit the donkey, the donkey just shook it off and tramped it down. Eventually the donkey had made a platform of dirt to get out of the well.  The farmer was surprised at the result of this. We are like the donkey. What do we do with our problems, trails, or sorrows.  Do we bear them up or do we shake them off and move forward. 

I hope that we can all shake off our burdens with the help of our Savior Jesus Christ.

Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Love, Elder Nielsen

Through fasting and prayer we can receive peace and understanding.

Dear friends and family,

This week has been a slow one. We had the dodge call (transfer call) on Monday, February 2, 2015, night and Elder Jones and I are staying together for one more transfer.  It is nice because both of us didn't want to leave Derby.  Other than that Elder Jones is starting to get sick again with that same nasty cold and on top of that, all of our investigators are sick as well.  It seems like a cycle that just never stops.  Elder Jones gets better and they get sick.  They get better and Jones get sick.  We did pick up a new investigator this week but other than that it is slowing down.  I have a feeling that we are going to have to drop some people because they will not meet with us anymore.  

The tender mercy for the week was in Sacrament Meeting during the sacrament.  I had prayed and fasted for some help and I got this feeling of peace come over me and a voice that said you are doing your best and everything will be okay.  It was a nice thing to have and calmed my troubled heart.

There are lots of people in this Ward that I like.  And lots of families as well.  Everyone here in Derby love the Missionaries and we are always having fun with them.  

Mostly this week has just been a reset week for us.  Getting things ready for this transfer.  Cleaning up our books and finding the people who have fallen through the cracks.

But pretty boring week for Elder Jones and I.  Please keep praying for hearts to be softened in England.

I testify that the we can all receive personal revelation for ourselves and feel of the Spirit bear witness to us of peace when we are facing trials.

Have a great week!  Love you all!

Elder Nielsen