Lessons about D&C 20:77, 79 Sacrament Prayers

Dear Friends & Family,

Well time does fly. I can't believe it is time to write the blog again. This week was yet another cold week. No snow but very cold.  One cool thing that happened is that my Grandfather sent us someone to go see here in Solihull. She is a less active member over here that one of my Grandfather's friends is related to.  So Elder M and I went over to her home and had a good chat. One thing that she said is that she is 80 years old and is still looking after others. She works on Sunday to help people get their Sunday meals together and helps them clean up their houses.  At 80 years old!  We just looked at her with our jaws on the ground.  Still serving others. What a good example! The rest of the week was pretty routine really. With it being so close to Christmas a lot of the people we try to teach are just "to busy" to see us, which is a shame but it's their choice. 

Last week I told you about getting caught eating the cake with some Young Men.  Well my mom ask what the reaction was of the sister that caught us.  It was quite entertaining.  She opened the kitchen door and just looked at us then her little girl ran over and started to eat cake with us. Then she asked how long it had been in the fridge and stuff like that. It was one of those balloon cakes from Costco with way to much frosting on it.  But it was good and we had a good laugh.

I would have to say that the tender mercy for the week was just having so many members want us for the Christmas season. They were fighting over who could have us and when. It was really nice and I will miss it since I have now been transferred from Solihull to Derby England.  I will give you more information about the transfer next week. I think the fun adventure and the laughing for the week is one thing.  Like I mentioned above we went to visit a gal that my Grandfather had told us about so were on our way over to visit with her and the roads were really slick.  It was about half five and the sidewalks where already iced over.  So Elder M thought it would be funny to just fall into someones hedge to see how others would react as they saw him fall. So he told me to look and I looked and he just fell backwards into someones hedge.  Elder M is a big dude to and this poor little hedge held him up with no damage to Elder M or the hedge.  It was entertaining to me and the others that were walking by.  The worst thing of the week is just how dark and cold it is over here.  It gets dark at around four and has been below freezing the whole week. We have had lots of frost that has stayed until about noon which makes for a miserable morning of walking and finding.

One thing that I want to talk about happened during Gospel Principles this past Sunday. We were teaching about the Sacrament and reading the prayers for it.  I thought I knew everything there was about the prayers until a member that was in the class started to point out that the word ALWAYS isn't needed in the sentences.  But that it is put there to reinforce the fact that we are ALWAYS GOING TO REMEMBER HIM and ALWAYS HAVE HIS SPIRIT to be with us.  It was pretty cool. 

Doctrine & Covenants 20:77, 79.

77 O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it, that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him and keep his commandments which he has given them; that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

79 O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this wine to the souls of all those who drink of it, that they may do it in remembrance of the blood of thy Son, which was shed for them; that they may witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they do always remember him, that they may have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

The other thing he talked about was that we are asking God to bless and sanctify the bread and water. This is the one time during the week that we get to eat something that has been sanctified.  And because we eat it and it is truly clean if we are in the right mind set and go with a repentant attitude we can become clean.  

Well that is it for this week.  I hope that you all have a great week helping others Come Unto Christ.

Love Elder Nielsen

He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows

Hey family and friends,

This week has been cold. And it is supposed to get colder. We have 70mph winds coming in this week and temps of -5C.  It has been a good week though.  A while back I talked about the man that I met in the bathroom that I have been talking to every week at the gym. We saw him this week and had another good chat with him. He lives pretty close to us and so we walked home together after the gym. But long story short we invited him to Church on the Dec. 7, 2014 and he told us that he was going partying that night so wouldn't be able to come. But said that he might come in the future. It was still cool to just talk to him. 

Tender Mercy for the week is we had a member who called us and apologized to us for not having us over for a Thanksgiving dinner and so they took us to a Carvery for dinner. A Carvery is kind of like a buffet but way better. All the food you can eat for pretty cheep.  We had a good meal.

Funnest thing for the week was probably going to the gym on Monday. Had very good work out.  I love going to the gym and dong a good workout. 

Hardest thing for the week was getting in touch with people. There are some people that we have not seen for a long time that just don't answer their phone.

Thing that has made me laugh out loud this week was getting caught with the some of the Young Men  eating left over cake after Church on Fast Sunday. We where eating cake and laughing when a member walked into the kitchen. I had half a piece of cake in my mouth and some of the young men where just about to take a bite.  We all had a good laugh!

Other than that it has been a pretty normal week trying to contact people and keep things moving. I have been reading in Mosiah this week and read this... 

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

 4 Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

I have been reading this and then it hit me to replace the we, our, etc with me and I. So it read Surely He has borne my grief, and carried my sorrows; yet I did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for my transgressions, He was bruised for my iniquities; the chastisement for my peace was upon him; and with His stripes I am healed. 

As we come up to Christmas lets remember the real reason for it. CHRIST!

Love, Elder Nielsen. 

When you follow Christ you are always on the right path.

Dear Friends and Family,

Last week I mentioned that I strained my neck but it is better now.  It lasted for about two weeks and it is all good. ;-)  Tender mercy for the week was just my neck healing. It was to the point that if I got my heart rate up above 100 I had to sit down because my head was pounding so hard.  Since England does not celebrate Thanksgiving, Elder M and I had our own.  We had Pizza and Wings and lots of them.  I think that we might have overdone we were so full, but it was fun.

This week has been a busy weird week.We have had the "He is The Gift" training. It was crazy because of the traveling back and forth into Birmingham for two weeks in a row.  It was a good training though.  I am really impressed with the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints effort into stressing Christ during a time of commercial hype.  So after that we watched the video that goes along with the He is the Gift.  It is a really good video The Christmas Story.  But after the business of learning/training the week went back to normal. 

We went and saw some less active members and tried to get in contact with some people who had been investigating the Church.  Solihull is a weird area because people come and go really quick. What I mean is that you can stay in contact with them for a week or two and then they just disappear and you can't seem to find them for weeks.  It is a crazy pattern. 

This week in the Old Testament I have been reading about Saul and how he didn't wait for Samuel to come and perform the sacrifice right before the battle and then he spared the ox and sheep.  This topic led to an interesting talk with Elder M about social pressures.  How Saul gave into the children of Israel and went ahead and did those things because it would make him popular in the eyes of the people.  In the long run it hurt him more than the people. We have been challenging the members to not give in to the social pressure. To always remember that if they are following Christ they are on the right path. 

Have a great week and remember that "He is The Gift".

Love Elder Nielsen

showing off my new shirt/muscles.

Having fun at the park on Pday.  England is beautiful.

Gratitude

Dear Family and Friends,

Solihull is a nice Area but nothing really goes on here in terms of Missionary Work.  Over the past two years nothing has happened really.  And the members have not really been helping at all.  They are good members on Sunday but the rest of the week we don't see them.  Please pray for hearts to be softened and that the Ward members will have a desire to Hasten the Work.

This week has been cold yet again. But that is okay since there are not too many weeks left on the Mission. The time will go quickly.  This week we had a Ward Reach Out Night.  It turned out pretty good.  We had about 8 people there and saw a good number of people that we have been dropping by to visit with. 

The work is slowly picking up.  My companion Elder M and I went and saw a man named Alan.  He has not been active for two years.  A very nice man and we talked about what was keeping him from Church.  And he flat out told us (but I will not share because of privacy).  But the cool thing is he is going to let the Missionaries (me and Elder M) come back and teach him again!  Yeah, it should be good.  We hope to have him back to Church by Christmas.  So we will see how this week goes with him as we continue to visit and teach him.  Finding over here has been really slow so we have started to just work with less actives.  And there are some good people that are close to coming back.  But also have experienced a little detour in their reactivation. 

I saw the man that I talked to about the Gospel in the bathroom at the Gym.  He is not really interested in being taught by the Missionaries about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but he likes to talk to us about our lives and what we are doing.  So hopefully his heart will soften and he will want to learn more about Jesus Christ.

The Tender Mercy for this week is Health Insurance.  I had a little accident at the Gym and strained my neck so after a visit to the Doc. no lifting anything for six weeks.  I can't even pull my suit cases down to get something.  Elder M has to get them down for me. 

I hope that as we all celebrate Thanksgiving this week we all think of the many things that we are grateful for.  I am grateful for my family and the support and encouragement they give to me, friends for the joy of having friends to listen to my venting, my health so I can run and not be weary and walk and not be faint, safety that I can walk freely, food so I can stay healthy, house for the warmth and comfort it provides, and the scriptures that I can study and learn more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving.

Love Elder Nielsen

A little bit of Toilette Humor

It has been cold this week. The weather has diffidently turned this week. It went from a very nice Autumn to freezing in a day. The rain has been a pain but that is what I get to deal with.

As you can tell from the post title, I had a funny conversation on Monday last week.  Elder M. and I go to a gym on Mondays to get a good work out and I was in the restroom and there was a man that I have talked to a couple of times on the toilet.  While he was in the stall, he began a conversation and asked where I was from and I told him. Then he asked why are you here in England and a couple other questions about my Mission.  But definitely one of the craziest places I have had a conversation about the Gospel... as he was wiping ha ha. We will just have to see if it goes anywhere hopefully it will.  But there a little bit of toilette humor to start us off with.

But tender mercy for this week was Zone Meeting.  The training was presented in a way that I have never thought of and I learned a lot.  Best thing that happened this week is that I now have Elder M. as a companion.  He has just let me rant for the past couple of days about the things that have been going on with my last companion and with the Ward.  It was good to get all my frustrations out so I can move on.  The hardest thing for the week probably has just been trying to get around to all the members we wanted to see this week.  We are trying to build up the Area around where the members live.  So we have been going by their homes asking them to pray that we will have success in their Area.

I have just finished reading the Book of Joshua.  And one thing I did as I read the book was marked every time he was told to be strong and of a good courage.  It is repeated plenty of times.  I learned that no matter what situation we are in we need to be strong and of good courage and it will work out. That principle is illustrated through the whole book.   The people rebel and Joshua just has to put up with it until they change.  And also with driving the other people out of the promised land.  He had to be strong.  Lots of things going on and nothing really went his way.  But he stayed strong.

Other than that we are still working with less actives and trying to find new people.  Hopefully with Christmas coming up it will bring lots of softened hearts that are ready to hear about the good news of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Please join with me in prayer for soften hearts during this upcoming season for those who are ready to hear that good news.

Have a great week!

Love, Elder Nielsen

LOVE ONE ANOTHER

Dear family and friends, 

I did not get transfers. I am still in Solihull.  I have a new companion this week but still in the same Area. I now have Elder M. from Snow Flake, Arizona.

But my time in the Mission Office while I waited for Elder M. was about two days.  One of the days I did service for the MP.  He likes the car park clean before transfers. So Wednesday morning I was out there at 8 am with a broom and a leaf vacuum with a couple of other Elders cleaning up leaves. I honestly loved my time as the office Elder.  I answered the phone and typed up papers for them. Easy work that was different. I had the opportunity to have a good chat with one of the Senior couples that are in the Mission Home.  He gave me some good advice and I have been thinking about how I want the rest of the mission to go.  In my patriarchal blessing it talks about disillusionment I have always wondered what it meant and how it would play out in my life, but after my time with Elder P. I now know it is to have false ideas going against the knowledge that you already have, or a reversal of right and wrong.  I am a witness that satan has a hand in disillusionment and will try to guide you down the wrong path so hold strong to the truths you know.

So this week has mostly been getting Elder M. caught up with the Area and what not. But we are in the same group of Missionaries. So we both have been out 18 months. This past Sunday was Remembrance Sunday. So basically our Memorial Day. Everyone has a poppy on their chest and there is a two minute silence at 11 am. It always has been a cool experience to do that 

After picking up Elder M. we then headed out to meet the Ward Mission Leader.  He wanted to go on splits with us so that he could get to now Elder M.  We had a good split. I went and saw the less active members while Elder M. went and saw a referral that we got from the Ward Mission Leader. It is pretty cool because they got in to teach this man. So hopefully we will be teaching him this week and he can start on the road of change.

I had a pretty crazy experience this week though. I was having a bad attitude about staying in Solihull for another transfers. I was praying and the thought came to read some Conference talks from 1970. But the first talk that I opened up to was called  "Love One Another".  As I read this talk it basically told me that if I was unhappy it was because I didn't have love for any of the people around me. That has been my goal for the coming week. To love the people around me and try to not jump to the attitudes I have had about them. It has been really good so far. I am looking forward to what happens in the next six weeks.

Seek the Lord for Divine Aid and Counsel

This week has been a trying one for sure.  Lots of ups and downs.  My companion went home on Monday.  I am sad that he is going home but also I know that it is probably the best thing for him.  I will admit that it has been hard to keep motivated to do things when he wasn't.  He always commented on how I would study every day even though he wasn't as regular at it and was impressed with my dedication.  So I am an Office Elder for the next couple of days until Wednesday maybe.

Transfers are coming up and it has just been a crazy week.  I don't think I have had a week like this in a long time. We were running all over the place to get things for the Elders in the District and then having the Zone Leaders over in Solihull for the day.  So a very long and crazy week that is for sure. But I am back to what I do best on the Mission and that is moving people. We helped a family move this week to another house in Solihull. It was a fun day moving them. It seems like I get to know the members better when I am serving them. We are helping another family move sometime this week, if I am back in Solihull, so it should be a fun week.

The tender mercy for the week is being in the Mission Office for a little bit.  It is nice to get into a new environment with Missionaries that I have not had the opportunity to meet and have a renewed spirit being around them and of course the Mission President and his Wife.  And I think that the hardest thing for the week has been packing up Elder P. and just trying to get him off.  I have enjoyed most of my time with him.  It has been hard but worth it.

Remember that the Lord loves us all and wants what is best for us.  Tad Callister said in the October General Conference "God will never leave us alone. God never gives us a responsibility without offering divine aid.."  We just need to seek that divine aid and counsel.

Have a great week!

Love Elder Nielsen