Oi!
Had us another awesome week. We have been teaching Brandi's friend Briana, and on Tuesday, we taught her and I decided to have her and Brandi look up "Safety for the Soul" by Elder Holland after we left and watch it. That night we got a text from her that said, "hey, this is Briana and I decided that I want to get baptized on the 3rd by Elder Nelson", it was super cool. We were pumped! So, she will be baptized on Saturday.
Thanksgiving was actually pretty awesome. We spent it with a family that lives here in Trenton, the Kellie's. It was fun and we had some awesome food. Other than that we ended up knocking doors the entire day. We didn't have any appointments for Thanksgiving because people were all with their families, but we ended up having a good day from it. We didn't really know what to do, because everyone we knocked on said "oh well, we are going to visit family or we have company", so we came up with a plan that we would just try to tell them we are going around showing our gratitude for the Savior by sharing his word and ask if we could share a quick scripture about what we were thankful for. I decided that I was going to use a different scripture from the Book of Mormon on every door. It was pretty cool. People would answer the door all angry that we were bothering them, but if they would accept a scripture they instantly changed after we started reading it and we ended up with a bunch of return appointments and potentials from it. The best though is this guy named Clyde. He is a pastor of another church, but is pretty down to earth and has an open heart. He listened to the restoration and wants to know it is true so bad. He has been reading and praying to find out. We went back and had an incredible lesson with him on prayer. When we left he told us he couldn't come to church this week, because he was being ordained at his church on Sunday, but that he would come this week... haha He was actually a bit solemn when he told us he was bring ordained. We are hoping that he gets an answer and has the courage to act on it.
I will be staying in Trenton this transfer, we had our interviews with President yesterday and I should be here. Elder Prague will be going home in 2 weeks. I will find out his moms number for you.
Anywho's, love yalls, hope you're having a good holiday season. Tell Thomas to get to work, he is taking my place for the year, and quit being a punk and write.
Love, Elder Nelson
Monday, November 28, 2011
Monday, November 21, 2011
November 21,2011
Wowsers!!!
So, this past week has been amazing... We have been seeing miracle after miracle, sooo cool. On Tuesday, we had the zone leaders come up to go on exchanges, I went with Elder Lester and stayed here in Trenton. We had done a little thing where we pray over the area and pick streets to tract and compare lists and then we tract whatever street we have in common. We came up with a street called Lyndale. So, Elder Lester and I went out and got lost? haha I don't know the area too well yet, but we ended up walking down the wrong road a few miles, so we walked back and found our way to the right road, by this time we had about 45 minutes until we had to be back to the apt. to meet Elder Sprague and Elder Gerber to go to dinner and it was about a half hour walk from where we were. We knew that there was someone there to find, so we kept going and got to the street and didn't know whether to go left or right, so I said a quick prayer, and felt like we should goleft... the first house we knocked on, a 19 year old kid answered and invited us in. He had just moved here to get away from the streets and to straighten his life out and had been praying for help... We committed him to baptism next month and with tears in his eyes, he accepted. We went back the next day to check up on him and he had done all of his reading and was doing awesome. It was so cool !
We also started teaching one of Brandi's friends, and Brandi's grandma said to take it easy because she probably wouldn't respond well if we treid to commit her to baptism, so we went and taught the first lesson, and the spirit was amazing, so we went ahead and committed her to the 3rd of December. Then on Thursday, we had a meeting all day in Memphis and we were sitting tere and got a refferal on the phone from mormon.org. It said "Hi, my name is ___ and I live with my family who are members of your church. I want to meet with you and take the lessons and possibly join your church"! We called him up and set up an appointment to go see him. These are just a few of the miracles that we have seen. It has been so cool, and it has all come from Obedience and hard work, and then to top off the week, Brandi wasw baptized and confirmed on Saturday and Sunday. It was so awesome and I was able to confirm her... It was amazing!
I can't believe that Thomas is already home! It was just yesterday that we walked out of Molca Salsa and said "Same place in 3 years?" haha and then he left for his mission. You need to tell him to write me and give me a recap of his mission and, make sure you rub it in to him, that I still have another year left!!!
Thanks for everything family!
I love you...
Love Elder Nelson
So, this past week has been amazing... We have been seeing miracle after miracle, sooo cool. On Tuesday, we had the zone leaders come up to go on exchanges, I went with Elder Lester and stayed here in Trenton. We had done a little thing where we pray over the area and pick streets to tract and compare lists and then we tract whatever street we have in common. We came up with a street called Lyndale. So, Elder Lester and I went out and got lost? haha I don't know the area too well yet, but we ended up walking down the wrong road a few miles, so we walked back and found our way to the right road, by this time we had about 45 minutes until we had to be back to the apt. to meet Elder Sprague and Elder Gerber to go to dinner and it was about a half hour walk from where we were. We knew that there was someone there to find, so we kept going and got to the street and didn't know whether to go left or right, so I said a quick prayer, and felt like we should goleft... the first house we knocked on, a 19 year old kid answered and invited us in. He had just moved here to get away from the streets and to straighten his life out and had been praying for help... We committed him to baptism next month and with tears in his eyes, he accepted. We went back the next day to check up on him and he had done all of his reading and was doing awesome. It was so cool !
We also started teaching one of Brandi's friends, and Brandi's grandma said to take it easy because she probably wouldn't respond well if we treid to commit her to baptism, so we went and taught the first lesson, and the spirit was amazing, so we went ahead and committed her to the 3rd of December. Then on Thursday, we had a meeting all day in Memphis and we were sitting tere and got a refferal on the phone from mormon.org. It said "Hi, my name is ___ and I live with my family who are members of your church. I want to meet with you and take the lessons and possibly join your church"! We called him up and set up an appointment to go see him. These are just a few of the miracles that we have seen. It has been so cool, and it has all come from Obedience and hard work, and then to top off the week, Brandi wasw baptized and confirmed on Saturday and Sunday. It was so awesome and I was able to confirm her... It was amazing!
I can't believe that Thomas is already home! It was just yesterday that we walked out of Molca Salsa and said "Same place in 3 years?" haha and then he left for his mission. You need to tell him to write me and give me a recap of his mission and, make sure you rub it in to him, that I still have another year left!!!
Thanks for everything family!
I love you...
Love Elder Nelson
Monday, November 14, 2011
Mom and Dad;s perspective on a great year!
We are overwhelmed with emotion at the growth this past year has brought to our cute Elder. The past year has flown by (in my eyes, not his father's). We have loved watching him develop a greater understanding of the Savior's love and the plan of Salvation, along with a greater knowledge of the scriptures and how they apply to his life and all of ours. We celebrate with him, a year of hard work, growth, maturity and love for the service rendered to his Heavenly Father and the people of the South. We look forward to another great year of service in the Kingdom and the blessing that come to him and to our family through this great work.
We are so very blessed...
We are so very blessed...
November 14, 2011
1 year....
The 10th brought some crazy mixed emotions. It is incredible how fast the past year has gone. I can't really describe it. You come out and two years seems like an eternity, but each month you look back and it seems like it went by in a flash. I have started to realize why two years can be so tough on some people. When you look at it forward, it is tough, but when you remember how fast it has gone, it makes you not want to waste a second. It has also been really nice to be serving with Elder Sprague, he is closing up on the end of his mission in a few weeks, and he is determined to go out strong. There is such a contrast between missionaries like him and those who start to check out of their mission as it winds down. You can tell a difference in their persona. They are all happy, but you can tell those who are happy because they are going home and those that are happy because they have just experienced the best two years of their lives. I'm hoping that I can be the latter.
Dad asked me what I have enjoyed the most about the first year of my mission, that was a tough one. I think one thing is the knowledge that I have gained up to this point. Whether it was in Blytheville, where I learned the basics of the gospel, so that I could teach it, or in Frayser when I learned to adapt it to different people in different walks of life or coming to understand that all of the knowledge in the world doesn't matter if you don't care about those you are sharing it with.
I have loved being able to meet so many varieties of people. I have loved seeing myself grow and come to love people I barely knew. Being an instrument in the Lords hands and seeing how he has blessed me. I have loved the challenges that I have been through, that had I seen them before my mission, I never would have imagined getting through them. I'm so thankful to be able to say that my testimony is growing. It sat around and was a bit of a waste before my mission and now that I am working at it and sharing it, I can feel it growing.
We had a long discussion this morning about how blessed we are to know God's true plan. Seeing it from any other perspective but from in the church with the knowledge we have seems scary. We have so many answers to fill in the blanks. I have loved coming to understand that the gospel and the scriptures have answers to absolutely everything. That along with my testimony to know that even when I can't find an answer, I know that there is one, and then to study it out and to find the answers. My mission has been amazing so far, but I have so much to still work on. I don't want to waste a single minute over the next year.
I love you guys, thanks for sending me out here.
Love Elder Nelson
ps. We do have some ivestigators, the top one right now is a girl named Brandi, she is awesome. She is supposed to get baptized next Saturday as long as she can stay smoke free, she also introduced us to her friend, and we are going to start teaching her and I think that could be a pretty good opportunity.
The 10th brought some crazy mixed emotions. It is incredible how fast the past year has gone. I can't really describe it. You come out and two years seems like an eternity, but each month you look back and it seems like it went by in a flash. I have started to realize why two years can be so tough on some people. When you look at it forward, it is tough, but when you remember how fast it has gone, it makes you not want to waste a second. It has also been really nice to be serving with Elder Sprague, he is closing up on the end of his mission in a few weeks, and he is determined to go out strong. There is such a contrast between missionaries like him and those who start to check out of their mission as it winds down. You can tell a difference in their persona. They are all happy, but you can tell those who are happy because they are going home and those that are happy because they have just experienced the best two years of their lives. I'm hoping that I can be the latter.
Dad asked me what I have enjoyed the most about the first year of my mission, that was a tough one. I think one thing is the knowledge that I have gained up to this point. Whether it was in Blytheville, where I learned the basics of the gospel, so that I could teach it, or in Frayser when I learned to adapt it to different people in different walks of life or coming to understand that all of the knowledge in the world doesn't matter if you don't care about those you are sharing it with.
I have loved being able to meet so many varieties of people. I have loved seeing myself grow and come to love people I barely knew. Being an instrument in the Lords hands and seeing how he has blessed me. I have loved the challenges that I have been through, that had I seen them before my mission, I never would have imagined getting through them. I'm so thankful to be able to say that my testimony is growing. It sat around and was a bit of a waste before my mission and now that I am working at it and sharing it, I can feel it growing.
We had a long discussion this morning about how blessed we are to know God's true plan. Seeing it from any other perspective but from in the church with the knowledge we have seems scary. We have so many answers to fill in the blanks. I have loved coming to understand that the gospel and the scriptures have answers to absolutely everything. That along with my testimony to know that even when I can't find an answer, I know that there is one, and then to study it out and to find the answers. My mission has been amazing so far, but I have so much to still work on. I don't want to waste a single minute over the next year.
I love you guys, thanks for sending me out here.
Love Elder Nelson
ps. We do have some ivestigators, the top one right now is a girl named Brandi, she is awesome. She is supposed to get baptized next Saturday as long as she can stay smoke free, she also introduced us to her friend, and we are going to start teaching her and I think that could be a pretty good opportunity.
Monday, November 7, 2011
Welcome to Trenton, Tennessee
Dern tootin, I'm a Redneck...
I just got placed back in the sticks!!! It is awesome. I am in Trenton Tennessee, it is the farthest north east corner of our mission, and it is awesome. There is a little branch here of like 35 active members, it is pretty cool. My companion's name is Elder Sprague, he is from Payson, and is on his last transfer. Luckily he isn't getting trunky and he wants to finish off strong, so we are working hard. The area we cover is actually pretty big and most of the work we do is in a town called Humboldt, which is also where the chapel is. It remeinds me a ton of Blytheville, but less ghetto and less crime, I think.
Leaving Southaven was pretty tough. Going around saying goodbye to people wasn't too fun. We went by to see Crystal and Keith Saturday night and they gave me some gifts and Crystal had written me a big long thank you note. So they are getting married on December 10th and Keith asked me to be his best man!!! It was way cool. Unfortunately, I am too far away to go back down to it, so I won't be able to:) still cool that they are going to get married, and they are doing so well. They even talked about getting ready to go to the temple and be sealed in about a year.
We also went by to see Betty, it was scary... haha Elder Crotts says "so Elder Nelson has some bad news..." (and Betty had been praying that I woudn't get transferred) but he says that, and she gets this angry look on her face, and stood up like she was going to punch me and just started saying, "No" I assured her that I would be back and she calmed down. But, it was pretty tough. Elder Crotts and I sang God be with you till we meet again, which was pretty tough on all of us, but it was a good goodbye.
Well, I'm going to end this because I don't know what else to say, but I love yall!
Love, Elder Nelson
I just got placed back in the sticks!!! It is awesome. I am in Trenton Tennessee, it is the farthest north east corner of our mission, and it is awesome. There is a little branch here of like 35 active members, it is pretty cool. My companion's name is Elder Sprague, he is from Payson, and is on his last transfer. Luckily he isn't getting trunky and he wants to finish off strong, so we are working hard. The area we cover is actually pretty big and most of the work we do is in a town called Humboldt, which is also where the chapel is. It remeinds me a ton of Blytheville, but less ghetto and less crime, I think.
Leaving Southaven was pretty tough. Going around saying goodbye to people wasn't too fun. We went by to see Crystal and Keith Saturday night and they gave me some gifts and Crystal had written me a big long thank you note. So they are getting married on December 10th and Keith asked me to be his best man!!! It was way cool. Unfortunately, I am too far away to go back down to it, so I won't be able to:) still cool that they are going to get married, and they are doing so well. They even talked about getting ready to go to the temple and be sealed in about a year.
We also went by to see Betty, it was scary... haha Elder Crotts says "so Elder Nelson has some bad news..." (and Betty had been praying that I woudn't get transferred) but he says that, and she gets this angry look on her face, and stood up like she was going to punch me and just started saying, "No" I assured her that I would be back and she calmed down. But, it was pretty tough. Elder Crotts and I sang God be with you till we meet again, which was pretty tough on all of us, but it was a good goodbye.
Well, I'm going to end this because I don't know what else to say, but I love yall!
Love, Elder Nelson
Thursday, November 3, 2011
THANK YOU, SOUTHAVEN, MS
A special thank you to all of the wonderful people of Southaven, Mississippi, for looking after our son, while he was serving in your area. He met the most wonderful people, and it was with a heavy heart that he left your area. We cannot express enough, the gratitude we feel to all of you for feeding him and making him one of your own. We hope to meet all of you some day.
The Nelson's
The Nelson's
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