Week 105: September 10, 2012

Short Last Letter

I had the best last week any missionary could ask for, and today I will have an awesome P-day. Tomorrow night Elder Romney and I will drive to East London and stay the night with a companionship there, Wednesday morning Elder Giles and I will fly to Cape Town and have our Final Interviews with President Wood. We will then spend the night at the mission home, all of Thursday we will have the opportunity of doing whatever we like in Cape Town before our flight to London on Thursday night. I am sure most Elders will want to get some curios and other little African Trinkets, I think I might as well ha.

But I want to thank you all for all the support that you have given me, I love you all and I can't wait to finally see you!

2 John 1:12, I was thinking of just writing this reference down and calling it good but Rapport rather than Report.

Love you,
Elder Nielsen

Week 104: September 3, 2012

Thank you all for writing.

Brother Hamilton thank you for your sound advice, I will keep those thoughts in mind.

Also Sister Moore thank you for your words.

This week was awesome. Elder Romney and I had a powerful Zone Training with all of the Zone on Tuesday and then we had an incredible Zone Conference with Elder and Sister Cook and President and Sister Wood. After the Zone Conference I was asked to give my final in-field testimony and then everyone sang to me the SACTM song. It was really cool because for the past 16 transfers I was the one singing to departing missionaries, and then it was my turn.

I am still going strong, bringing as many souls to Christ before I am no longer a full-time missionary. It is something I am really going to miss. I don't know how I feel about going home, I look forward to it but at the same time I don't want to leave this behind yet.

This week I will work with a sense of urgency and do all I possibly can.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen 

Week 103: August 27, 2012

Hello Everybody

I had another great week here in Queenstown, we also had a good exchange with the Elders in Mthatha. It was great to see some of the members there for the last time. We had a lot of fun with the Elders who were there as well, two of them are from commonwealth countries like Australia and England so we had some good banter going on hah. We helped them out in their area a little bit as well and got some things happening for them there. It was awesome to serve one last day in Mthatha, I love that place.

My throat still is a bit sore in the morning but during the day I don't have any problems, so my cold is going away just fine. It's probably a good thing that I am sick now, because I don't want to be sick while going home. I don't know how my body will adapt to real American food again but it wasn't too bad coming here so I am not too worried.

Elder Romney and I are getting along really well and are having a lot of fun together. Tomorrow he and I will be training the whole Zone on some of the specific things that the mission as a whole need to improve on. So this morning in our companionship study we went over all of the things that we need to discuss and re-address. Tomorrow and Wednesday will be the two busiest days of the week and I can imagine they will go by quickly. Wednesday we have a Zone Conference that I will be conducting, our special guest will be Elder Carl B Cook of the Seventy and of course his wife and President and Sister Wood. For those who remember General Conference addresses from the recent past Elder Carl B Cook related an experience with the Prophet and learned "it is better to look Up". We are excited for the training he will provide us with, it is not too often we are able to be trained by a General Authority. Along with those activities for the week, it will yet get busier with some Baptism interviews Elder Romney and I will be conducting in Sada, which is about a 45 minute drive from our area. So things are continuing to move along here and we are being kept busy, which is what we like. For the rest of the time we will try to fit in as many teaching appointments as we can in our area to keep things alive there. We are looking to have 2-3 baptism's on 16 Sept, so I will be leaving Elder Romney and his new companion a little present hah.

Interesting fact, I learned just this week that Mitt Romney's running mate is named Ryan, well my companions name is Ryan Romney. Found that out to be quite a coincidence.

I am glad that things are doing well for everybody, I wish you all luck this coming week.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

Week 102: August 20, 2012

Molweni family

Mom, I am glad to hear that you are enjoying yourself as a seminary teacher. That is probably one of the most demanding callings but I can imagine that it is worth it. I knew you would do great! I will keep you in my prayers that you will continue to do well and help those students of yours gain their testimonies.

Dad, so what are we going to do with that basement? and thank you for the picture of the football ticket, looking forward to that!

Good luck to you Colin with getting a job down there in Georgia, I'll keep your family in my prayers that everything will work out!

The past couple of weeks I have had a sore throat and a bit of a cold, but it is going away and I am feeling better.

Well it has not hit me that I am at the end of my mission, I continue to work hard and give it my all. Something cool happened yesterday, my companion and I were going through some of the less-actives in the area and we found some great teaching opportunities out of some of them. My favorite was a young man named Dwayne, he is a very energetic person and was super happy to see us, his brother is the member we were originally looking for but he was not at home when we stopped by. Apparently Dwayne has been taught before by missionaries before but at that time he was not ready for some reasons, we felt like he was ready at this time so we shared something brief with him out of the Book of Mormon and we invited him to be baptized on the 16 of September which he accepted. We could have given him an earlier date but in this ward we are only supposed to baptize on the third Sunday of every month, so it makes it difficult for someone who wants to have a baptism on their last Sunday of mission hah. Not that it matters in the slightest.

This week Elder Romney and I will be driving to Mthatha to have exchanges with the district leader and his companion up there. It will be my last time going to Mthatha, I am excited and looking forward to seeing all of the people I know for one last time. Good Memories from that place.

I hope all continues to go well with everyone back home. I will keep you in my prayers!

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

Week 101: August 13, 2012

Hello!

Sorry for not sending you an email last Monday, we were just a bit busy with traveling to and from our training in Cape Town, it was a lot of fun and very spiritual as well. It was really good to see all of my mission buddies that I haven't seen in a long time. After some leadership exercises, two nights, and one long day of training we came back home to Queenstown. We flew back to East London where Elder Romney and I drove another two hours to Queenstown. We didn't arrive home until Wednesday evening.

Although our week was basically cut in half we made some good progress in the area with the time that we had. On Saturday morning we found a lot of success in finding people to teach, and we even found a former investigator who seemed really promising. The first thing he said was "Elder Nielsen? You're back?" my reply was "I am a different Elder Nielsen with the same message as the last one" hah. He is a really nice man who has a pretty solid job and quite a large family. We also met some others who we will begin teaching this week as well. I am just trying to keep busy and get some things done while my time quickly expires out here.

Congratulations on walking Ava! That is awesome. And Good luck with another Grueling year of Med School Brian!

Mom, good luck with Seminary starting this week, wow I forgot how early Georgia Schools start, Probably at the same time you start your class on Wednesday I will be conducting a Baptism Interview here in Queenstown. I am sure you will do an awesome job in helping those students gain their testimonies of our Lord and Savior. It will be an awesome experience to daily prepare for each lesson which will help you always stay grounded in the scriptures.

Colin and Whitney I wish you luck with the job opening up and you three moving east soon. I will keep you in my prayers and thoughts. Good luck with it all.

Thank you all for your letters of support and encouragement. Love You,

Elder Nielsen

Week 100: August 9, 2012

Hello Mom

Sorry I was not able to write to you on Monday. We had a Zone Leader Council in Cape town from Monday until yesterday, and since we are in Queenstown we had a long way to travel and we started from Sunday evening and only got home at 7 o'clock last night. It was really good to be around all the other Zone Leaders in the mission as well as President and Sister Wood. We had the luxury of staying in the mission home, it reminded me of being at home when family is around because it was practically an all you can eat buffet. We had a lot of fun and received a whole lot of training on things that the mission can improve on and how we can lift the mission to higher levels. I promise that this Monday I will fill you in on everything and be more detailed but I don't have much time now.

Thank you for the photos and your letter, And good luck with preparing for seminary and visiting those inactive students of yours. I will keep you in my prayers. And about garments, I should be okay to wait and go to the distribution center when I am home.

Love you,

Elder Nielsen

Week 99: July 30, 2012

Beginning of my last transfer

Elder Musangu is going home this Wednesday and my new companion is Elder Romney, and he is coming from my old area Fish Hoek. He will be my last companion on Mission. Crazy. I haven't really gotten to know him well but we have met at Zone conferences before and such. 

The pictures that are attached are from yesterday and Friday, the one with the food is yesterday's Dinner Apointment. We always get fed by members after church on Sunday. Mom the white stuff that looks like mashed potatoes in the middle of the table is Pap, it is made out of corn somehow. it is typical here in South Africa to be fed Pap so I am enjoying it while I can. If anyone was wondering, Yes I was rubbing my belly and smiling when this picture was taken. Mmm tasty.

This week is going to be a busy one, we are going to have lots of new elders coming into the zone and also many going out. As a zone we will have to take three cars down to East London and drop off three elders going elsewhere, and one (my current companion) is going home to DRC. We will have to make sure that all the Elders get to where they are supposed to on time and make sure that nobody is left alone. Once transfers are over though it's back to getting the Lord's work done.

Thank you for sending all of those pictures of the yard and also some from the basement and walk-in closet. It was good to see the old power-washer, what a beast machine. The yard looks incredibly big! Large and in Charge.

Colin congrats on the baby blessing! that is so cool, wish I could have been there, maybe for the next one!

Love you all so much, have a superb week

Elder Nielsen

Week 98: July 23, 2012

Hey everyone

This picture attached is a district lunch from this week, we had Pap and fish. Yum!

Wow I didn't expect to see my flight plans today that's pretty cool, it's getting closer and closer! Apparently since I came into the mission Elders from America fly from Cape Town to London and then from London to either Atlanta or Dallas and then they connect to get to their destination. It is much less expensive so that is why they do it. It looks like I will have a long wait in London, I think some of the other Elders in my transfer will want to go and see some of the sights there before flying to the states, we will see haha. That will be directly after the Olympics too. Unfortunately a lot of the Elders in my transfer will be going home on Aug 16 in order to go to school in the fall, so I won't be able to see them all before they go out. I am glad I decided to wait and go to school in January, it seems better that way.

Well we had another good week here in Queenstown, we were really happy with our most recent convert named Lubabalo Mahlinza, he is a stud. I was privileged enough to confirm him yesterday and he was so happy afterwards, the Spirit was so strong during the confirmation, it was an awesome experience. I love teaching him, he is like a sponge soaking up all of the things we teach him. Another cool thing happened this week, I think we found a pretty good investigator, he is a young guy about twenty one years old and he seemed really receptive to the gospel. I am hoping that we will be able to teach him a couple of times this week and get him to church this Sunday. This week will be Elder Musangu's last full week on mission, so planning on working him hard and then next week getting my last companion and finishing the mission with a bang by working hard and using all of these skills I Have obtained throughout my mission. For now I will focus on the work, I only get the opportunity to serve the Lord full time for two years of my life and I want to improve every minute of it. It is a dead sprint to the finish line for me.

Mowing the yard takes six hours dang that's a chore and a half! haha that's awesome though I bet I would love that for the first couple of times. If I remember correctly that Georgia grass turns brown for 8 or nine months of the year so that's not too big of a deal. I look forward to seeing those pictures next week.

Love you all, have an awesome week!

Elder Nielsen

Week 97: July 17, 2012

Hello again FAMILY!

While you all are enjoying the summer heat, In South Africa I am getting snowed on! I never thought I would see snow here.

The first picture is at the Mthatha house, miss that place! however it is not the same as when I was there. The Second is proof that we had snow, the picture was taken the day after and there was still a dusting on the top of that there hill. The third picture is of one of our investigators who was baptized yesterday after church.

It was a fantastic week, but very busy. On Wednesday we had a really good training session with all of the Zone, we presented to two groups while our mission President was taking Elders out individually for interviews. Every three months Zone Leaders provide training on effective teaching and missionary skills, including fundamentals of Preach My Gospel, to all of their Zone. We also received a piece of training from President Wood in between our sessions. it was good for us to refocus and remind ourselves of important principles. The next day we drove to Mthatha to go on exchanges there. It was awesome to be back in the old area and have the opportunity to see some of the people I worked with before. Some of the brothers we took fellow shipping a lot have put in their mission papers and will get their calls very soon, that was really good news to hear. I think there are a total of three who either have their calls, or are waiting for their call to arrive, and another one is still working on his papers.

Since we were very busy this week with the training and exchanges we have to do a little catch up in the area, we are going to have to re-connect with our investigators and get back on schedule as soon as possible. We will also have to do a fair bit of finding in order to keep our schedule busy, since I have a soon to be home companion we have got to sprint him through the finish line and then the same for me in a couple of months. No slouching hah. We do have some pretty solid investigators right now who have great potential to progress but only time will tell. Hopefully Next month we can have some more baptism's.

Thank you all for the letters you all sent!

Hey could you please send me a picture of this large lawn? I have only seen glimpses of it through the pictures of Dad and Ava on the new mower (oh and by the way Dad good call on the John Deere from Lowes, I love that place!) Also If I may request photos of the basement? that would be interesting to see as well. Thank you!

Have a Great week!
Elder Nielsen

Week 96: July 9, 2012

Hello family!

Wow it looks like you guys had a whole lot of fun this week! Jam packed with activities and what looked like a lekker Braii (BBQ). I am sure the fireworks were phenom as they usually are in PTC. I too had a good week.

We had a sweet experience in our area this week! While we were spot tracting houses with cars we found a man named Sanda, who told us that it was a miracle that we knocked on his door. He said that he is going through a transition in his life right now that is a bit challenging and he is looking for some direction. After talking with him for a couple of minutes we came to find out that he was leaving for work soon, so we were able to schedule an appointment with him the next morning . We had an awesome first lesson and he said that he enjoyed our visit and really wanted us to come back to see him again. What I thought was cool was that he recognized that we were messengers from God because we came to him in a challenging time in his life and we were able to comfort him with our message. He has observed that many churches that he has associated with in his lifetime are very corrupt which is why he does not attend a church currently, if that's not a perfect opportunity to teach the Restoration I don't know what is. We look forward to following up with him, however we can already see that there are some things in his life that will have to change before he is baptized, like he has to Repent and get married or Repent and separate from his girlfriend. In any case That was one of the coolest part of my week. We also had a great investigator at church who is the father in a father led family, however the mother is not very interested in taking lessons from us at this time which is preventing the father from progressing a little bit. Also we had a 21 year old male pass a baptismal interview this weekend and we are super excited for his baptism this next Sunday, it would be awesome if in a years time he could go on a mission of his own!

This week is going to be another awesome one. We will give the zone some training on Wednesday with President and Sister Wood. Then on Thursday we are going on exchanges with Mthatha, which is about 2.5 to 3 hours drive through beef cattle territory, it's a nice African drive up through there. We will stay two nights there and drive back to Queenstown Saturday morning. I look forward to seeing a lot of the people I was working with again. I have a feeling this week is going to seem really quick.

Thank you for sending the pictures of your week! haha I know you all had a fun time. Have a super week!

Love,
Elder Nielsen

 chasing cows, Don't get hit by a bull! 

My companion, Brother Makanda (RM Fellowshipper), Tata Libazi (he and his wife gave us the most exquisite dinner appointment last night) and myself. 

Treasuring up his word, Personal study time.

Week 95: July 2, 2012

Congratulations Colin and Whitney, Welcome Oaklyn!

Wow you are parents now! that is awesome, Another June baby in the family haha, the best month to have a birthday! She's a cute little one :)

Mom I understand you had a lot of things going on this week and weren't able to write me but reading e-mails was too short without one from you! hah

The picture attached was taken before district meeting Friday morning with all of the elders that live in Queenstown, however only two Elders proselyte in town and the rest of us drive out to our areas.

On Tuesday evening, my companion and I drove 2 1/2 hours to East London and stayed with Elder Naylor (one of my old companions) and his companion Elder Giles. The reason we went down to East London was for a Zone council which usually happens every other transfer but this one was a skype with President Wood and other missionaries around the mission. It was cool to catch up with Elder Naylor and talk about the people we taught and baptized in Bellville over a year ago. That was probably the last time I will see him on mission because he goes home in 5 weeks. I am so glad to be on mission and create these wonderful memories.

There are a couple of investigators that we have who are really progressing. One is named Lubabalo, he is a young man who has been coming to church a lot. He is really receptive to the lessons and we are working hard to get him ready for baptism, he was first introduced to the church through his relatives who are members. Another Progressing investigator we have is named Nangamso, she is also very receptive to the truth and has enjoyed the lessons very much. She is a bit busier than Lubabalo with work so it is more difficult to have many appointments to teach her but when we schedule appointments with here she won't drop them. There are some other people that we are teaching who could really make some progress but many of them have not yet read the Book of Mormon and received an answer that it is true so we are working with all of them to get them going. I loved this week, we were able to keep busy and stay focused on the work. I fasted and prayed that such will be the case for the rest of my mission.

I look forward to the updates on the house, the new member to the family and how the fourth of July goes!

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

Week 94: June 25, 2012

Hello Family

Ahoy!

I have been transferred to a place called Queenstown, and it is awesome! It is very cold here in the winter, last year July they had a bunch of snow. I am not sure what the elevation is here but it must be pretty high for how cold it is. In this area I will be working with the Xhosa people. I am really excited to be here! Also my companion is awesome, He is in his last transfer and after that he will go back home to The DRC. It is going to be an awesome six weeks.

I have just been trying to figure out this area the last couple of days, I have been lost and it's a good thing E. Musangu served here last transfer so he knows the area fairly well. We work in a place called Ezibelene which is a little township located right in between large hill-like landscapes that people here call mountains hah. That is where we work all day and we actually stay in the actual town of Queenstown.

Some of the investigators that we have are doing very well and it appears as if they are progressing very well, so there could be some baptism's coming up very soon. There are many recent converts in this area so we are kept pretty busy with them. I am glad that this area is well set up and is doing very well, I know it will keep me busy and focused.

Mom I like the look of those new leather couches! very nice. Sounds like you two have been keeping yourselves very busy with this move! good luck with the rest of it! I look forward to seeing the finished product.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Nielsen

Week 93: June 18, 2012

Transfer to Queenstown

Yes this week I am being transferred to Queenstown, it is a little town far out in the eastern cape. I have been there once already, and I am excited to finish my mission there. I was told that this would be my last assignment and area for my mission. I am determined to finish out strong and do all I can to bless the people of Queenstown with the gospel. What is cool is that Mthatha is part of that Zone so I will be able to go on exchanges there which will be great. My new companion will be Elder Musangu from the Democratic Republic of Congo, I have heard that he is a super nice guy and is great to be around, this will be his last transfer so in another six weeks I will get another companion.

I am glad that you were able to close on the house and that you have been able to move some things in, good luck with the rest of the move!

So far I have been able to baptize in each of my area's so hopefully that will continue. I am really trying hard not to think too much about home, I just try and concentrate all my energy into missionary work. I feel a whole lot of urgency to get as much work done as I possibly can in these next two transfers, it's crazy how fast mission fly's by. 

Some members had us over saturday night to celebrate my 21st birthday, they fed us super well and had an awesome cake! They also gave me a key on a plaque which is symbolic of unlocking the future, that is tradition around these parts. I thought that was really cool, I Love this area and I am going to miss it badly. 

To all you young'uns have a great summer break!

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen 

Week 92: June 12, 2012

Happy birthday to all in June

Colin and Mom Happy Birthday, AVA Happy Birthday. Isn't june an awesome month? Oh yeah Happy Birthday to me too. Thank you all for your wishes. And momma thank you for the package it was sweet. Some members are going to have us over for dinner Saturday night so that will be a little birthday treat for me, and that will be the first night in the new house, awesome. Ariel you did an awesome job with that birthday party! You know what those pictures remind me of? a home video. and to answer your question, yes. and for the diamonds maybe, I still haven't looked into it that much.

Well I had an outstanding week, a lot of work was done and we were able to teach a bunch of new people and get many new investigators. We also saw many other investigators who have been taking little baby steps toward baptism, sometimes it's back ward though. In most cases, it's two steps forward and one step back. Progress is progress and No effort is wasted!

This could be my last full week here in Cleary Estate if so that would mean I was here for six months, if I stay another I could be here for 7 & 1/2 months. This is the longest area I have ever served in, and I have loved it! The next one I go to will be my last, probably.

for p-day we are going to have a braii and play some sport. Yeah! we will probably play american football and touch rugby.

Enjoy the week, next time I will send some pictures!

Love you all!

Elder Nielsen

Week 91: June 4, 2012

Hello's

Thank you all for writing letters this week, always great to hear from you!

We had another successful week, we have been planting a lot of seeds everywhere. Most of our work is sowing right now rather than reaping, missionary work is a whole lot of fun. It is really cool when you create a relationship with someone and they end up being an investigator, we had a couple of those recently. We taught our first lesson to an individual whom we met about 10 weeks ago and it went really well. I thought that was pretty cool. Right now we are keeping ourselves busy finding and teaching people hoping to find the areas next baptism. Planting seeds as we go, that is the best way. 

Recently in my studies I have been studying by topics found in the topical guide and I have found that to be very useful. It has been such a blessing to have an hour every day to study the gospel, I have found that there is no end to gospel learning here on this earth, there is just so much to learn. I have made a stack of notecards of scriptures that are useful in teaching situations that I study almost everyday. I haven't memorized them but I can remember key words and phrases and attach them to scripture references so that comes in handy while teaching investigators. I hope that after mission I will be able to have the same uplifting and inspiring personal studies as I have now. 

Mom and Dad I can't believe you are moving so soon, I thought it was going to be in July? wow that's quick! I am really excited for you and I look forward to the pictures you will send. Finally you gypsies can settle down for a little while haha! :) I know you will also enjoy being at Ava's first birthday party this weekend, that should be fun! What a cute little girl.

Mom I honestly don't remember how my NT seminary teacher taught the four gospels. Harmoniously sounds more interesting. I look forward to seeing those DVD's if the church ever releases them. Thank you for all your prayers!

For P-day we are playing sport with another zone so I have to keep this one short . Love you all so much and have a super week!

Oh and dad could you send me Idaho's 2012 schedule, maybe they will play a game against someone in the ACC or SEC that we could go and watch.

Elder Nielsen

Week 90: May 28, 2012

Hello Family

Thank you for the letters everybody! 

Today is a beautiful South African day; nice warm weather is just perfect for some of the great things we hope to accomplish on this wonderful P-day. We are actually thinking of going to play nine holes today, that would be fun. Last week we did not get a chance due to time but we should be O.K today. Nothing better than a little bit of recreation after a hard weeks work, we have got to make the most of it just like every other day. 

We had a fairly successful week, we were teaching a lot of people and even finding lots of new people to teach. One of which is a man named Eldrige and his family, we had a great lesson with them about the Restoration, however he was not home at our next appointment= disappointment. Oh well it happens all the time here, There have been many investigators who drop appointments in the beginning but end up progressing. We shall see. This upcoming week we hope to find even more people to teach and hopefully the people we have right now will start to progress. We have just got to load things up so that we can sift out the really interested people. 

Looks like Ava's birthday party is going to be a blast! Ariel that is really cool you are getting into photography, I am sure you will be thankful you did later on. You are creating lasting memories. In answer to your question I think that it's a yes.

Congrats to Elder Lyman for finishing his mission strong!

Dad good luck with your travels to and fro between Atlanta and Connecticut, I am glad you are enjoying your work.

Mom, I hope your weeks are kept busy and that time flies as fast for you as it is for me.

Love you all! 

Elder Nielsen

Week 89: May 21, 2012

Ahoy!

I am super happy to hear that everything back home is going well. 

Mom you will be a great seminary teacher! And teaching the Freshman class will be cool because it's their first time in seminary :)

As it is getting warm up there in Georgia it is getting colder down here in SA, although these next 8 months of my life will feel like an extended fall season, and then I will jump up to Rexburg and experience a real winter ha ha! Looking forward to that.

This past week we started to notice that some of our investigators were really progressing well, which is really exciting because we weren't expecting that. Sometimes it just happens like that, you might think someone is running away from you but you see them again and they are really doing awesome. For example one of our investigators told us he wanted to be baptized, that put a huge smile on our faces! 

On top of that we were able to meet some great new people this week and we have begun teaching them, I love meeting new people and getting to know them and then sharing the Gospel with them. If there was one thing I like about missionary work it is that. Let me tell you, there are some very interesting people in the world and on mission you get to meet them all :) And of course you find some of the most sincere and genuine people all in one days work.

Since today's weather is a bit warmer than most days we are thinking of playing golf, we are not sure yet though we have some other things that we want to do as well. Hoping for an awesome p-day thats for sure.

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Elder Nielsen

Week 88: May 14, 2012

Did not write home this week.

Week 87: May 7, 2012

National Park P-Day? Yes

We left early this morning to go to Addo, a National park near P.E, and we had a blast! We got super close to some huge elephants and other native wildlife. It was a fantastic way to spend our P-Day. Also two of the Elders in the Picture are going home, so it was a bit of a Celebration for them, not a bad way to spend your last hours of free-time in Africa.

So yes this week is transfers once again, they come and go so quickly now. Elder Davuke and I will be staying together, which will make this my longest area on mission 6 Months! Elder Martin, who is wearing red will get a new companion named Elder Wolfgramm. Apparently he has a friend that was or is still serving in the Atlanta Georgia Mission? Adonai. It should be a very fun transfer, I am looking forward to working hard and prepping some people for some baptism's. Unfortunately it looks like all our investigators right now are progressing just a bit too slow for me to see them be baptized, but they will be shortly. 

All has been well this past week, we taught less lessons this week but we still accomplished a whole lot of things. The last picture I attached is a picture of Elder Davuke and I with one of our investigators that we have been teaching. Actually we will be teaching him and his wife tonight at 7, he wants to be baptized really bad but wants to be baptized with his wife at the same time.

Dad, sorry I didn't mention it last week but that is really exciting! Both Nik and Eric were great players and they should do well at the next level, I am jacked to watch some college football this fall! Congrats on your work, can't wait to get a tour of your facility. 

Ariel, thank you for the update! I too am Pumped to meet Ava, can't wait!

Wow seems like everyone is going to have a bit of a transfer this summer, good luck all!

Colin and Whitney! 7 weeks, that is coming up super quick! 

Have a super week everybody!

Elder Nielsen

Week 86: April 30, 2012

Hello

Yes Mother I received the Easter package this week! It was awesome Thank you SO MUCH!

Uncle Kirt congratulations on purchasing a home in Ogden! I am wondering how far that will be away from Rexburg, maybe on some weekends I can help you with some yard work and other chores you'll have going.

Well this week was pretty productive, actually one of the most productive if you were to look at our stats for New Investigators.We came out with 11 this week, which is unheard of in the area we are serving in right now. Most of them are individuals, but we have one family that we met which were very receptive. We will see what will happen in our return appointments with them, hopefully it all goes well. It's a bummer when we go to follow up and the investigator isn't there, great we are back to square one.. hah oh well sometimes that is just what happens. This is the last full week of the transfer coming up, my bet is that I will stay for another 6 weeks here and then be transferred at the end of those. This will be my one and only 6 month area. We are working hard and keeping the pace up.

This past week I started to read The New Testament again in light of your new calling! Right now I am still in the Gospels but I will get deeper into it as I go. Also this week I started my D&C countdown. Since there are 138 sections of D&C I am reading every section top to bottom. Thats one a day for 138 days, which is how long I have left. The time is truly far spent and there is little remaining. 

Mom I am reallly glad that you love that house, I too cannot wait to see it. When do you think you will be moved in? 

Time for us to have a good P-day, sorry for the short e-mail.

Have a great Week everyone!

Love you,

Elder Nielsen

Week 85: April 23, 2012

Ahoy family!

Ariel do you have any idea when I have to accept my track at BYUI? That is the direction I am leaning towards.

We had a busy week with a lot of finding, which yielded lots of success. We have a lot of new people to teach and we have return appointments scheduled this week, so pretty soon we will know who is serious and who is pulling our leg. I am always excited in these types of situations on mission where you get to see if someone really grasped what you taught them or those who.. didn't hah. There are also some former investigators that we have set appointments for and we are really looking forward to teach them this upcoming week. Our Body Building investigator is awesome, it is difficult for him to come to church because of his work schedule but he is solid. I ordered an Afrikaans copy of the Book of Mormon and we were able to give it to him on Friday, he was really happy. We have a lot of people in our area who will one day be baptized but at this time right now each and every one of them has something standing in their way. In most cases they just need a bit of time. But for now we continue to work our hearts out and get going with new people to teach. 

Days and Weeks and Months just continue to fly which is kind of scary. Missionary life is the only way my mind thinks in right now and I can't even imagine any different. I am just going to give it my all and really utilize all of the experience I have gained on mission to bless the lives of others.

Thank you all for your support, I love you! 

Elder Nielsen

Week 84: April 16, 2012

Hello's

Well mom I am still in the same area I just have a new companion so everything is the same as far as flat, appliances and other things.

My companion cooks some pretty interesting things which I think are just as interesting as "what you got stew" basically where you throw whatever you got into a pot and cook it all up like. Thankfully we have some experienced missionary feeding members in our area who can cook some decent dishes. I am grateful for this area and my companion, it truly is a blessing.

We did meet some great people to teach this last week which was awesome, it feels good to find prepared people. Unfortunately we had to move our four baptismal dates back to the 12th of May but we are still excited for their willingness to get baptized and follow the Savior's example. The work is progressing well and we are excited for the future of our area with all of the work that we are doing in it.

I have not yet received that Easter Package but getting the post from Cape Town has been a bit hectic lately so that could be an explanation, I do look forward to it though :)

This past Sunday we finished watching the afternoon sessions of General Conference, wow there were some powerful talks! I cannot wait to have the ensign next month.

I am glad that you are on a contract with that house, actually I am not sure which house exactly you are talking about because it seems that there were two, but nonetheless I am thrilled that you are getting closer. That would be a fun little project to finish a basement. I have never done anything like that so it would be cool, and also all the yard work. Funny how I have taken such things for granted hah. 

Dad I am glad you are getting over your cold that you were able to stay in PTC for work. I can't believe you drove the golf cart to work hah! 

Addison thank you for the letter! enjoy school and your summer break coming up soon! good luck singing at your final assembly. 

Love you all sO MUCh

Elder Nielsen

**Note from Chase's mom in the weekly forwarded email: In a seperate e-mail to me, Chase said his release date is September 12th.  He will fly home on Thursday the 13th so depending on flights, he'll most likely get home on Friday the 14th of September.   I can't wait!   What a reunion!!!

Week 83: April 9, 2012

Happy Easter!

Happy Birthday to Aunt Sondra!

It is raining a lot in Port Elizabeth, and apparently it does so throughout winter so It's going to be very wet the next couple of months for me. Today I am thinking of going to the shops and finding a rain jacket. It's pretty crazy that I have made it 19 months without one though, I have been pretty good at dodging the rain but it has finally caught up to me.

The work is going pretty well we are working a lot with our recent converts and some less-active members. The rest of the time we are trying to find new people to teach who will listen to our message, trying to find someone who is humble enough to listen is half the battle and the other half is having them act on our message as well. Most of the investigators that Elder Vernon and I found have sort of fizzled out so we have a lot of revamping to do. Finding is one of the tougher things to do in missionary work but it is really rewarding when you can see the fruits of your efforts. I like the fact that my new companion really wants to work hard which makes things much easier when both of the companions want to get things done.

Mom and Dad the housing situation is very interesting right now, but it seems that you will get into something very soon. I am glad that you have the oppotunity at other homes so you can pick what you like best. I am glad that you both were able to have a good Easter Sunday and enjoyed yourselves.

Recently we had a great lesson with one of our investigators and we taught about the word of wisdom. After teaching the principles and sharing a few scriptures we could tell that the Spirit had made an impact on our investigator. At this time we decided to invite our investigator to live the word of wisdom, and they accepted! There is something powerful in teaching true doctrine and presenting it in a way that the Holy Spirit can testify of it. Certainly obeying the Word of Wisdom has it's challenges, but with faith in God and sincere repentance we can overcome all obstacles and live the kind of life that our Heavenly Father wants us to.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week and have success in all you do.

Love you,

Elder Nielsen

Week 82: April 2, 2012

Hello's

So what is going on with the house mom?

We were only able to see the morning sessions of General Conference because the afternoon sessions were too late for us, so I feel like I missed a lot of it.

Well I have a new companion named Elder Davuke, he is from Fiji, and he is a little bit new on mission. However, he is really excited to do missionary work and together we are going to learn how to do missionary work much better. He speaks English well and likes to talk to everyone which is awesome. Elder Vernon was transferred to Paarl, which I was really excited about, weird to think it was over a year ago that I was serving there. Anyways Elder Davuke and I have already started to boost up our area a little more to have many options of people to teach, we have done a lot of different types of finding people.

Everything is going well and I am really happy to be staying here in Cleary Estate, there area a lot of things going on that I am excited about.

I hope all is well with you all, sorry for the short letter.

Love,

Elder Nielsen

Week 81: March 26, 2012

From Cape Town this week!

Happy Birthday Uncle Kirt, and congratulations on the promotion! 

This morning I flew into Cape Town with some other Elders from PE to receive some training and also new companions, I will be staying here until Wednesday. I will catch a plane back to PE with my new companion and begin working with him that night. It feels good to be back in Cape Town, and the view from the plane of Table Mountain and some of my old areas was fantastic. Right now I am with some Elders from Cape Town and I will be with them until this evening, that is when the training begins. Pretty exciting.

I don't have my camera with me or anything so I cannot send you guys photos this week. Next week I have some pretty sweet pictures that I want to send you though so look forward to that.

Yesterday we had the confirmations of the four people who were baptized the previous week, I did three of the four confirmations which was very cool. Some other investigators that we have were able to make it to church and be able to witness that so it was a very productive Sunday. I think in total we had 7 investigators at church, we are really cranking it out right now, it's too bad that Elder Vernon and I will not be companions anymore, but whoever my new one is I will make sure that we keep it up and make things happen. One family we are really excited about is a family that has been investigating the church for a very long time, they have recently showed a lot of commitment and have been able to come to church for three weeks in a row. They have a baptismal date for April 22. Hopefully they will keep that commitment they have and go through with it, that will be awesome! 

 With this new companion of mine we are really going to have to prepare ourselves for these upcoming baptism's, which means we will be doing a lot of finding. We basically need to pad our teaching pool with some promising investigators to make sure that we keep busy and productive and more baptism's will follow. Right now it seems that Elders Bangerter and Martin will stay together, they are in my district, which means that Elder Martin will be Elder Bangerter's final companion. It will be a sad day when he goes home, but each of us are out for two years and those older than us have to go home in order for us to some day. Those two are really fun to be around and serve with.

The time has really flown and what is interesting is I am sitting with my MTC companion Elder Barlow right now and this E-mail shop and we are talking about where the time has gone, we have decided that we woke up one day and became 18 months on mission. I think for both of us we can say that what we have experienced and learned so far has been more than we could ever have imagined.

Ariel- Ava looks gorgeous, cannot wait to meet her! I'm and uncle, what they heck? hah I just realized that!

Mom and Dad the house looks awesome! thank you for sending those photos. It sounds like you have things all planned out and the end of May is coming faster than the blink of an eye. 

Hey our branch is going to watch General Conference live this weekend! I am so excited, this is the first time that I have heard of it in South Africa. We might stay up really late but at least we will see it when the rest of the world does, I can't wait for it. Weird to think that this is my last General Conference on Mission.

Well I hope you all have a fantastic week,

Elder Nielsen

Week 80: March 19, 2012

Awesome weekend!

Hello family! wow it's awesome to hear the great news about the house and the acceptance letter from BYU-I. Things are really starting to click back home and even out here!

We had four baptism's as a branch yesterday, three of them were investigators that Elder Vernon and I have been teaching and the other baptism is an investigator that Elders Bangerter and Martin have been teaching. It was probably one of the most spiritual Baptismal ceremonies I have had on mission so far, it really was a great
experience.
Things are looking up with possible baptism's in the near future. We are super excited about a couple of our investigators who are now starting to show some real promise, they have been keeping their
commitments and been doing really well with coming to church. Our next baptism's are scheduled to be on April the 21st or the 22nd we will see though. Can't wait to see what will be the outcome of that. All we do is continue to work work work.

To build on top of that Elder Vernon and I have started running each morning, usually we run about 2.4k's which is a really nice brisk jog. It really helps us get our blood flowing and helps us focus throughout the day; I think that since we have been doing it we have been able to perform better as missionaries, and it helps us lose some fat. I have been trying to eat healthier and smarter recently but I can't run away from the dinner appointments haha.

I can't wait to see what you will be doing to the new house once you move into it at the end of may, I don't think the pictures on the listing show much of the property or the other bedrooms besides the master, it would be cool to see those as well. It does sound more like an estate than a house ha.

Well I have got to go now, but I hope all of you have a wonderful week and continue to have success.

Dad, good luck with your travels this week!

Love you all,
Elder Nielsen

Week 79: March 12, 2012

This week's letter

Sorry about that last week, I will make sure this one is sent off today.

First I will give an explanation of the pictures, the first one is last p-day when we went golfing at a low-budget golf course nearby, and the second is on Wednesday Elder Vernon and I found a teeter totter while tracting. To give you an idea of what we might be doing today for p-day, well we are going back to the golf course to play another nine holes of 'best ball' we had a blast last week so were going to do it again.

On Saturday we had three people interviewed for baptism and they all passed so they will be baptized on the 18th, the other missionaries also had a person interviewed for baptism that I conducted, so in total we will have four baptisms this next Sunday. We are very excited about that because we get to see a bit of evidence of our hard work. Elders Bangerter and Martin possibly will have some more people ready for baptism a little sooner than we will so we have got some catching up to do, but it's nothing more than we can handle. We have been doing a lot of finding and teaching of new and other people we have met, we are just trying to find those ones who are really serious about learning and acting upon our message and then really working hard with them. Since there are so many people that will at least talk with us (don't forget though we still get our fair share of rejections) we have to gauge their level of interest and then work with the ones with the most interest, it has taught us a lot about prioritizing and planning effectively.

Elder Vernon and I are still doing great, I know it's going to be a bummer when we are separated but for now we are living like there is no tomorrow, taking no hostages :) but we really are enjoying each other and recently we have been running in the morning. We have begun a program that he calls six months to sexy ha ha. Apparently I will be doing it until my time runs up.

We have got some really good news, this last week we asked the mission if we could get a washing machine in our boarding so we could save some money on laundry each week since we have been going to a Laundromat. Well the scripture is true ask and ye shall receive, this morning we did our first load of washing that was much less expensive than paying someone else to do it, our wish came true.

I am glad to hear that those who went down to Georgia had a good time, I am super excited that Colin and Whitney will be there by the time I get home, and that they will be staying in the new house! That would be perfect. I can't wait to find out where that new house will be.. hah

Oh I bought some pretty cool curios for you Mom and also Ariel when we had to pick up the other Elders from our district at the airport here, I thought of you two once I saw them. However, you will have to wait and see what they are.

Love you all so Much, Have a great week

Elder Nielsen

Week 78: March 5, 2012

Hello's. Sorry last week's letter did not send properly :( but here it is

Also a common greeting to many people, don't question South African English

Looks by the photos that everybody is having a pretty good weekend! looks like a whole lot of fun.

Colin and Whitney that is so cool you are having a little girl soon! Oh and also congratulations on the job! that's lekker. That will be awesome to have you right there when I get home, and no talking about home doesn't really trunk me out at all. I think I am keeping pretty good focus, I still have a good amount of work left to do. You two have a wonderful week in the South.

Ariel, is Ava still really shy? She looks like she is growing pretty fast, and she is still looking super cute. Hopefully you got to reconnect with a bunch of people and friends there in Georgia.

Mom and Dad, Love you lots.

So this week was pretty good, we had Zone Conference and then stake conference so for a lot of the week we were in meetings. When we were in the area we were teaching our investigators and trying to find new ones, but the latter was a bit difficult, we got rejected a lot this week. Nothing that will humble you and strengthen your testimony more than that. However, the lessons we did have with our current investigators were awesome, like the bodybuilder, he is golden but he works 3 days 3 nights and 3 off so it will be hard for him to come to church with that schedule. We are really excited about some other progressing investigators as well.

I hope the house hunting is still going well for you guys, is Ariel sitting at the staircase of one of the houses because that one does look pretty sweet.

The picture I have attached is Elder Vernon and I in our boarding.

Enjoy the week! Love you

Elder Nielsen

Week 77: February 27, 2012

Ahoy

A common greeting in South Africa, at least in areas that are near to the sea.

Well I am super excited to hear about the family gathering that is going to happen this week, I am sure there will be loads of food and fun activities.

Last week our district went to a nearby driving range and had a good time, it was a pretty nice deal as well because they allow you to borrow clubs and the only thing you pay for are the balls. Elder Vernon and I were hitting the balls pretty well, but the other guys were a bit awkward haha, so we did some coaching and by the end of the day they were doink O.K.

For P-day today we will most likely go to the Walmer chapel and play some Volleyball, and then practise a hymn that we will be singing at Zone Conference this week. After Shopping for food of Course.

The past week was a bit interesting if I can say so, just because some of our investigators dumped us, but we took it well and have spent more time finding or fishing and hunting as Jer 16:16 says. It is pretty rewarding when you get a couple of people to teach, and that's what we are after. On the 18th of March we will have two or three baptisms, so we are excited about that and continue to make sure that it happens. For the most part though we will be trying to find our next batch of baptisms.

That golf cart looks like a whole lot of fun, so dad are you still planning on trading in the truck for one of those car-like golf carts? that would be a good idea.

Sorry for the short letter, but I hope it is sweet no sugar needed hah.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen