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 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 74: February 6, 2012

Had a marvelous week, or something

Happy Birthday Grandma!

Yes it was lekker week, although all of this missionary work is really exhausting me, 12 hours of proselyting a day is no joke, but sacrifice brings forth the blessings of heaven and we have really noticed that this week.

There were 6 of our investigators at church yesterday, and all of them will most likely get baptized in the coming months. One of them even bore thier testimony of the Book of Mormon at fast and testimony meeting yesterday! That was awesome. Another cool part about the week was on Friday. It was raining so we decided to go tracting in an indoor flat complex, where we found two people who listened to and understood the Restoration of the gospel and were interested enough to come to church. They accepted a baptism invitation and the next time we see them we are going to give them a date! Also on Saturday I went on an exchange with Elder Bangerter (pocatello, Idaho) from my District and we met with a man who we had previously street contacted a few weeks back, we had a sweet lesson and he seemed very interested as well. So it seems that all of the hard work has payed off and we are beginning to reap what we have sown, and the Lord is really blessing us with people to teach, they are coming our of nowhere.

This week we will probably be moving flats, because our lease on our current flat is up soon. We will probably do that all of tomorrow. I am not really looking forward to that but it's what we have to do I suppose.

Presently my diet consists of granny smith apples, peanut butter and jelly, what you got stew, brown rice and yoghurt. In this area it is hard to eat a very healthy diet because our area is so far away from the boarding but we are alive. I look forward to having a well balanced diet once back in the states. Also we do not have a washer in our boarding, So we take it to a laundromat each week and its not so bad, I love having a washing machine though. Each monday we go shopping at Pick 'n' Pay where we can get fresh fruit and veg and all of our other needs .

Last week for P-day we went to the walmer chapel with the rest of the Zone and played volley-ball and also American Football, it was a lot of fun. Wow I am out of shape though haha, getting a bit chubby too.

Mom and Dad good luck with your challenge of being diet pepsi and coffee free. YOU CAN DO IT! Also good luck with the house hunt! and Dad keep up the good work at Pitney Bowes.

Sorry for the short letter last week and the quasi short one this week.

Everybody have a good week!

Elder Nielsen

Week 62: November 14, 2011

Another Baptism

Hello family, all is well here in South Africa. As it is starting to cool down there, it's warming up a bit here. Actually the weather this past week was quite mild, but we are expecting a great surge of heat sometime soon.

Yes we had another baptism just this weekend, it was a great service and the Spirit was definitely felt. It really has been an amazing experience teaching sister Anathi, she was so prepared to receive the gospel and it was just in our Heavenly Fathers plan that we were to meet, teach, and baptize her.

The last picture is a bit of a sad story, that is evidence that our car was broken into this last week, and some of our belongings were stolen. We have reported it to the police, and done all we possibly can. It is too bad that there has to be opposition in all things, but that is just the way it is. Also last night someone tried to break into our house, but once they tripped the alarm they were booking it. Sounds like we have a lot of work to do as missionaries huh? We certainly are the warriors against wickedness, that's a cool way to look at it I've found. In 2 Timothy 3:7 I believe it says that those who are righteous are bound to be persecuted. We cannot let some thieves ruin our experience on mission, rather we will just press along.

That house you are describing mom sounds quite nice, again whatever you two decide I am completely happy with. Yes I did receive the Halloween package, thank you So Much. I loved the items you packed in there, and so did the members in the district. I bet that task you are undergoing right now is a bit tedious, good luck with it and all will be well. This week I have received news that in order to make it a possibility to serve in Namibia I will also need to complete new medical forms, they have sent me them and I will get them completed this week. Thank you for working so quickly in getting the police clearance to the office. Hopefully this will be the last of many steps that the Government of Namibia has made in order for missionaries to go there. I initially will have to pay for it, but however the mission will refund.

Dad, the service you went to is that the guy who sounds like coach Jackson? just curious. Sounds like this week might be a little tough for you, that can't be an easy task. I pray for you continually. Thanks for giving me the update on the Football scores, I can't believe it is already November, it goes by fast that's a fact.

Ariel, thank you Soo Much for doing all of those applications for me. You are the bestest sister Ever. Hope you, Brian, and Ava are doing well and enjoying life. I am glad you are enjoying the weather in Texas.

Hope you all have a great week! Love you

Elder Nielsen 

Week 61: November 7, 2011

Serving in South Africa

The first two pictures are jakaranda trees, purple in color that bloom in late spring here. Since it is the last time I will be seeing these trees i have decided that I needed to take some pictures of them. The last picture is quite typical to Africa, when you make a mistake, make the best of it. I can imagine what these guys thought when they ruptured this fire Hydrant by mistake "WOW, this thing is gushing large amounts of water at an incredible rate, good thing cuz my hands are really dirty".... and then later one asks the other how are we going to fix this? This is probably one of the reasons we mysteriously have no running water at our house for days on end. Gotta love it

This past week was great, every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday we have an opportunity to do service for Members and investigators. On Wednesday we did service at the Binta's, a part member family who we are sometimes fortunate enough to teach. We are basically clearing their Simba grass and weed infested backyard in preparation for a vegetable garden. It proved to be tough work, which is good because we are building up some nice hard hands. We know that it will be a blessing for them once we have completed the almost endless amount of work. On Saturday we went out to the villages and did service for the Mamoza family, there we are busy moving dirt into the foundation of the house that they are waiting to complete, that too hardens our hands a bit.

Yesterday we had 7 investigators come to church, and the other guys had 10 so there was a total of 17 investigators attending church yesterday, that's a pretty large amount of investigators to teach in the Gospel Principles class. It's a good thing that I taught the Sunday School class, and we also had our lesson on the spirit world, and funny enough tonight we are holding a Family Home Evening and we will be teaching about the spirit world.

On Friday we are holding a baptismal service, we are really excited for that! Hopefully more baptism's will follow this one, we have really put in a lot of work in this area. This week we plan on finding a whole slew of new investigators, we have struggled a bit in the past weeks finding new people, but we have been kept busy with all of the appointments we have set up.

I think the house you are thinking of making an offer on is a good house, it looks very nice. It's much like the house on Se 47th, as far as the rooms to bathroom ratio. However this home seems to have a bit more room inside. Whatever you feel is the best home for you two I am completely happy with.

Glad the Vandals finally won, for some reason they always, always have to make it hard for themselves to get a win.I guess that's why they are a fun team to watch, cuz if they win it comes down to the wire.

Love you all So MMUCH,

Elder Nielsen

Week 60: October 31, 2011

Molweni

That means Hello (to more than one person) or something

Well I am doing great, the week was pretty exciting although hectic in some ways. We all received some letters from the mission office informing us that we needed to get another police clearance from our home towns in order to one day serve in Namibia, not a certainty just a possibility. Since Elder Scicluna and I had the same situation being our residence has changed since being on mission we had no Idea how we were going to work it all out. the letter asked us to give ourpower of attorney to someone who could acquire the police clearance. I was under theimpression that it had to be from Issaquah, WA just because that is where I came from. So I put Bishop Tanner down as the one who would be able to do that, I felt kind of bad doing that but It seemed like there wasn't much option otherwise. I hope that is alright, and mom I think you mentioned that in another Email but I think I have forgotten.

One of the pictures is us cooking some food for the week, it works out pretty well. The other is the district going to Queenstown for interviews and training, which is quite a long drive (3 hours). Living with four Elders is never boring, there is always something happening and something to talk about. These two African's are just hilarious together, we have a lot of laughs and really enjoy each others company. Since all of us were born in different countries there are a bit of differences with each of us so it makes for a very interesting time.

We have a baptism coming up on the 12th of November, and she is just a golden investigator. Another cool thing is that we are getting a bunch of new investigators outside of University. We met a couple of them at one house, four actually and we have high hopes for them. They seem really interested and willing to learn. We will see how that goes, so far the transition out of the university is going really well.

Grandma and Grandpa thank you so much for your letter a couple of weeks ago, it put a smile on my face to hear from you two. Thank you for the update on how you are doing, I am glad to hear that you are well. Grandma you are truly amazing for continuing to work, that is a great quality. I pray that you two will continue to do well and have a great week!

Mom & Dad, sounds like you both were kept busy this week, I bet you are happy that you don't have to stress and worry about enrolling children into school mom. I wonder how it went getting the license plate for the new car HA. I know that you love the search for a new home and that will sure keep you busy for the next couple of months, I can't believe tomorrow is November 1st, Far out! (very Australian term now-a-days) Dad I wish I could teach 127 people at one time, what an experience that would be. Most of those golf courses you are talking about don't sound familiar, are they new or the same as before?

Have a great week.

Love,
Elder Nielsen

Week 55: September 26, 2011

Hey Fam

These weeks are sure flying by, it seems like we are constantly on the go and teaching anything that moves. Sometimes we even teach the first lesson in our sleep, no joke, and investigators are not easy whilst asleep, always have to resolve tough concerns haha.

That picture is the house that we are renting, its a pretty decent size for the four of us to stay in, although dishes pile up quick, not mine of course 1Nephi 3:7 I was born of goodly parents who taught me how to cook, eat, and then clean hah. Everything is just going super well, I feel like I am no longer going up a hill but down. Every day I feel more confident in doing missionary work, there is nothing better than to know you are good at something and continually strive to become better. I feel like I have a humble swagger towards missionary work, the only problem with humility is that you can never admit it :)

The past couple of weeks a good experience has evolved and we as a companionship have noticed some truly prophetic divine intervention. A couple of weeks ago as we were driving into the University, I saw this man walking by, and pointing at him said to Elder Scicluna "I want to teach that man". Little to our surprise about 6 hours later after having a fairly successful line of appointments we passed by him, on foot this time, and we jumped at the opportunity to get his contact details share our purpose with him and set up an appointment. We were feeling pretty good that the Lord had put him in our path just hours after saying aloud we wanted to teach him. This past week as we were teaching this man, named Leeds, he shared with us something very special. He said that he felt something tingling his spine when we first approached him and that he just knew he needed to listen to what we had to say, and he said that since then at every appointment he has also had that same feeling. We obviously then explained to him that he was feeling the Holy Ghost, and then seized upon the opportunity to invite him to be baptized, which he accepted almost before we asked the entire question. He had definitely already thought about that before we invited him. We are really excited to continue teaching this man and are grateful for the opportunity to fulfill our purpose as missionaries as fast as Heavenly Father can prepare the hearts and minds of the people in our area. Every day the Lord has a plan for us, the thing is we don't get to see it most of the time, I am glad that I have had this experience and been able to recognize it. The spirit testified to me that we needed to teach Leeds, and in like manner the spirit testified to Leeds that he needed to listen to us. Both of us were able to notice those spiritual promptings and act upon them, thus fulfilling Heavenly Fathers plan. You can't have a better feeling than knowing and doing God's will.

Mom and Dad good luck with the move this week, and do me one favor eat at that pizza parlor across from the Frisbee golf course, if i remember correctly there is a bridge for golf carts that goes over a large road taking you to the Pizza parlor. I think it is called PTC pizza, I don't remember I just know they have AWESOME pizza. Dad keep up the good work, and I am glad that you are enjoying the new job so far. Mom you can just send the package through the Mission office as usual, I can budget a hit here and there no problem.

Ariel and Brian, you have done well, Ava is so beautiful, I love her eyes and her happy temperament. Keep enjoying Texas and all the cool culture that must go along with living there.

look forward to hearing from you all next week!

Love you all so Much,

Elder Nielsen

Week 54: September 19, 2011

Hello Family

I love hearing about all of your weeks past and plans for the weeks ahead, cool to get a glimpse of what everyone is doing back home. Dad it sounds like you are really going to have a busy two weeks ahead of you, that will probably be a lot of fun and an enjoyable experience with Pitney Bowes. I am really happy that you have been hired on to work at a large corporation such as them, sorry what do they specialize in again?

This past week was awesome, on Saturday we had another baptism and yesterday there were two confirmations. I was lucky enough to confirm one of the sister, always a good spiritual experience to do that. I can't believe how hot it has been here the last couple of days, it's only September but it feels like the middle of summer. I can't imagine what December is going to be like here in Mthatha haha. But we managed to break some area records in our stats this week so we are feeling pretty good about that, we just need to have more people show up for sacrament and we will be baptizing like crazy. Lots of people around here want to hear our message and we are having a hard time finding time to teach all of them, most of it is separating out the Wheat from the Tares. I really love teaching people here at the university, I can't express how cool it is. For example we will go to a lesson, and when we arrive we will find a few of our investigators friends there in the room, we teach and they become interested. Boom new investigator just like that, hows that for finding?

This internet shop is having some difficulties so I don't know if my pictures will be able to attach, hopefully this email makes it to you. wow BYU and Idaho got smashed shame I hope Idaho can pull off a win against them that's be sweet, props to BSU and Wyoming that is pretty cool they are 3-0. Colin that is so cool you went to the Georgia BSU game I am sure that was an awesome experience for you, especially since the broncos won.

Mom I received the package you sent thank you so Much for all those sweets, Australians love skittles I have come to learn. I think the Jesus The Christ you sent me is bigger than the one I had before but it is nice to have a new one anyways. That book is Lekker for studying about the savior, basically that means it is Awesome. Lekker is an Afrikaans word for Good/awesome/spectacular. Although the area I am in only speaks Xhosa, I know Afrikaans better so I tend to stick to that. I love it here, although it's an English speaking mission, you could learn a variety of languages here. I am sure happy that you are happy about moving back to PTC, I can see you now rolling around in one of those Golf Carts going to Publix or Kroger hah.

Ariel, thank you so Much for being such a good sister and doing all of that dirty work for me how cool is that. What other sister in the world would write up applications for their brother while they are on Mission.

I hope all of you have great weeks, and let me know about all of the cool experiences that you have!

until next week,
Elder Nielsen

*Chase was able to send us the pictures he talked about in the letter. Here they are, along with some of the captions:

controlled burning, yeah right

Kidi, The cutest girl ever

Latest baptism, Brother Nceba (the baptist), and Sicebise Nceba (the baptized) is planning on going on a mission soon, I say he is going to ATL and I will be his fellowshipper there, a little flipped roles type of thing. Both of these two are studying at university. The 'C' in Xhosa makes a click sound where you place your tongue right behind your front teeth and suck to make a cteh sound. this sound is found in both of their names. The clicking in Xhosa to me makes Afrikaans much easier to learn.

FHE, at university every Monday night we have a huge family home evening in one of the classrooms there, probably a 200 seater. We plan by the end of the transfer to fill in the whole class. This picture was from last monday night. Hopefully tonight we have about 30 people there. The word is going to spread like wildfire at a place like a university. A great way to teach the restoration is with a bunch of people at one time. We are super stoked about it.

Week 53: September 12, 2011

Reaping and Sowing

The Picture I have attached to this E-mail is of the baptism of Siyonela that just took place on Friday, it's great to get into a new area and already see baptism's Christ said something about this in St John 4:36-38, and verse 38 rang out to me as if he were talking directly to me. Sometimes we are taken away from our laboring in a different area and don't necessarily get to harvest where we Sowed, luckily for us In South Africa anytime out of the year we can have a good harvest.

Siyonela was a golden investigator found last transfer who fell in love with the message of the Restoration and has really found great happiness in the gospel thus far. She was so excited to be baptized and confirmed, which will happen this next Sunday. What is nice is that we have even more baptisms coming up, and we are setting up our investigators well into the future so it is very exciting

Yesterday we took a trip down to East London for Stake conference, usually it's about 2 1/2 to 3 hours drive so we spent a total or about six hours in the car, it's a pretty drive although not as green as Cape Town. Our car is a manual transmission so it's a lot of fun to drive, I kind of like having to shift gears and use more of my body to operate a vehicle I guess it makes me feel less lazy than an automatic. Around here there is a lot of Farming going on, so we got to see a whole lot of livestock on the way. As a district we are thinking of getting all of our fellow shippers together and buying a goat or sheep to have a big Brie (Bar B Q), we think it would be a great P-day activity to Fellow Ship our fellow Shippers hah.

This Wednesday we will be taking another Trip to East London for Zone Conference, there we will be able to meet president Renlund and his wife who are doing a mission tour. You might remember a talk he gave in October 2009 "preserving a hearts mighty change". I am really excited to meet him and to see President and sister Wood again.

I might have said before but most of the teaching we do in our area is done at the university here, there are plenty of people to teach and they are super smart. On friday we went to a follow up appointment and there were 5 people hanging out in the persons dorm room, so we taught them all and picked up a bunch of new investigators. So basically we just meet so many new people all the time and will have a never ending supply of smart people willing to learn more. I love it!

Dad wow lots of people from Issaquah are playing in colleges now, very cool. congrats on having a good background haha, I knew there wasn't going to be a problem with that. I am really happy for you and Mom to have another opportunity to be in Peachtree city.

Looks like you all had a good weekend with the family and with Baby Ava. Momma not going to lie I am kind of glad the lease on the bug is up, I know you loved it but I am glad the it's time ran up ha, Good luck on finding a perfect house!

For P-day we are going to play some basketball with some fellows hippers and people from the township , so it will be pretty fun.

Love you all So Much,
Elder Nielsen

Week 49: August 15, 2011

Still doing great

This picture is quite typical in the Township, these Momma's are about to cook up some pork! Mm Yum

Yesterday I finally baked that birthday cake you sent me Mother, today I will share it with the district and it looks Delicious! Today for P-day we plan on playing some soccer again so maybe I can get some good exercise.

It was a good week, we really made good progress with some key investigators. We have scheduled two males in their thirties, one of which will complete a family and the other will be baptized with his wife on the 25th of Sept. I think I mentioned that last week or something to that effect so I will just share the experience we had with both of them.

We have been teaching a man named Steven Jacobs for the past couple of months or so, he is a guy who really commits to something when he feels the reasons are correct and he won't back out of a decision once he has made it. That kind of commitment in an investigator is great and missionaries love it, the only challenge with that is we really have to be on top of our game to get him to commit and live the principles we are teaching him. Yesterday we taught him and his wife the Word of Wisdom, which is the Lord's law of health giving guidance for all members of his church and investigators to stay away from certain harmful substances. Brother Steven has never had a problem with cigarettes, Drug abuse, or Alcohol, but he does enjoy his coffee or tea in the mornings. We taught him the principles or the Word of Wisdom and especially how our bodies are temples of God and that we should not be Dependent upon substances and let them govern our lives. He understood the things we taught him but we could tell that he was going to have a hard time giving up his coffee in the morning, we then expressed how much love heavenly father has for him and how through his help he would be able to give up coffee and tea. With some tears forming in his eyes he accepted the commitment to follow the Word of Wisdom. With almost every principle that we teach brother Stephen there is some apprehension but we always know that when he commits, he commits for real. As a missionary there are countless experience when I have noticed the hand of the Lord helping investigators submit their will to his, It is great to see positive changes in peoples lives and seeing them progress towards their eternal potential. I love being an instrument of the Lord as a missionary, it's the best.
Mom I think you are a little bit excited about the possibility of moving to Georgia, I'm sure I will hear from you next week and get a full update of all the things you have been up to. I know you don't necessarily look forward to another move but I guess you have got to go where the green is. Were you able to find my ACT scores for applications?

Dad congratulations on being the final candidate for the Pitney Bowes job, sounds like there is quite a good chance of employment for you there and that is really exciting. I had a good laugh last week as you would love to hit golf balls on your Lunch Break Ha, didn't you even do that in Seattle anyways?

To everyone else good luck with all you do this week I always keep you in my prayers morning and night.

Love,
Elder Nielsen

Week 47: August 1, 2011

Great week

The first picture I have attached is at one of our members homes in Masiphumelele, they just live in a tiny tin shack, they are just really happy humble people. The second picture I took with a guy also in the township who had a Seattle T-shirt on, so I just had to take a picture with him.

I say it was a good week because we are continuing to fill up our teaching pool with Father-led families and people who are really seeking for the gospel. One of them is named Fazo, he also lives in a shack with his wife and young daughter, we met him street contacting and had a great first lesson with him and his wife. After teaching them a little bit about the Gospel of Jesus Christ we committed them to be baptized and they both said yes. Although they did not come to church this sunday we are optimistic with them and their potential, we shall see what comes of the appointment we have scheduled with them this week. With most people in the township most people will actually let us teach them in their homes, but they all don't necessarily have a very high commitment level. To make a longer story a little shorter, missionaries here really need the gift of discernment to decide who really will progress towards baptism and focus on them rather than spending time with someone who won't. You really get to learn how to prioritize every single little thing throughout your day, I think it is a really cool eternal principle.

Mom that house In Ga is pretty cool, and thank you so very much for sending out another package and mulah! :) I really don't miss any particular sweets or foods all that much, I am just enjoying the South African cuisine. Almost everyday this week I had rice with veggies and a boiled chicken Breast (boneless or course), it is kind of annoying how hard it is to find boneless meat here. The only store that I have found any at is called Pick 'n' Pay which is usually the store we shop at now. Colin congratulations on graduating from that course, you look really excited in that picture you posted, thank you for your continuing updates.

Adam and Emily thank you for the letter this week, Adam looks like you had a fun fishing trip! and Isaac is growing soo fast, wow. Addison what is the difference between playing the violin and fiddling? Hope you all have a wonderful week and enjoy the heat while it is still there

Love,
Elder Nielsen

Week 46: July 25, 2011

Staying another one

Yes I get to stay here in Fish Hoek for another six weeks, that is very exciting!

The picture is yesterday's baptism of Busisiwe, probably one of the smartest investigators I have been able to teach while on mission. We had a cool experience this week with a man named Davidson. So what we usually do for finding is talk to all the people we see walking in Masiphumelele (the township in Fish Hoek, where most of our proselyting is done) and there are always a Lot of people moving around that place so there is no shortage. We met this man named Davidson and set up an appointment with him. When the day came that we were supposed to meet with him we were actually surprised he held true with the appointment (usually between the time we met the person and the scheduled appointment the people will just forget about the appointment so it was surprising to us). We could tell right away that He was sincere, and also his friend named George who was also present, and at one point in the lesson he used these words to describe his feelings about Jesus Christ and his Gospel "I just want to know the Truth". I had a little water coming up to my eyes when he said this and was overwhelmed with the spirit of missionary work. He accepted a baptism commitment, we are super excited about the area and the potential for growth.

Yeah we had a great time this week, we picked up some new investigators to really keep us busy throughout the next couple of weeks. Missionary work can correlate to the old power washing business, you have to continue putting fliers out, because not every flier will bite. The Flier in this example is of course talking to people about the gospel and inviting them to learn more about the Restoration of all things. If you don't do so, well you won't have much work to do Ha. The days are going by faster and faster, we are just busy all the day long.

The district did have some changes with transfers, Elder Fozard from England is still here and his companion is a little new out on mission from Twilla?, Utah. They are actually in a threesome with Elder Houston also from Utah, He is with them because he still hasn't gotten his Visa to go up to Namibia. This Transfer will almost mark a year for me in Cape Town, which I think is pretty unheard of throughout the Mission. I really like it here and really wouldn't mind if the Lord found another area around here that I could serve in Ha.

It was great to hear from you Brian, don't think you are weird for liking school that just means you are successful because you love the thing you decide to do for a living. That's pretty cool.
Hey Mom and Dad cascade Lake looks great! and man it looks really hot there. The last couple of days here it has been really windy which is really the only thing that will make you cold. If there was no wind the temperature would actually be pretty warm. And Uncle Kirt, kayaking is always something I have always wanted to get into a little bit more, is it a long and slim kayak for super speed or is it like a River Rapid Rocker thick and shorter? I am sure you will have your fun with that thing this summer.

Oh and that picture that I sent last week was from the nice part of the township.

Anyways, until next week.

Love,

Elder Nielsen

Week 45: July 18, 2011

The picture attached is titled 'Marbles In The Street'. The rules to the game are pretty interesting, the picture was taken in the local township Masiphumelele.


Yes I received the birthday package you sent me, thank you so much. I really like the pillow case and I finally have some music, I am really happy about that! Also It's really great to have all of those encouraging messages on the pillow case from the Family.

This week was pretty good, yesterday we had a total of 10 investigators at sacrament meeting. The best part about it is that there are 2 father led families and 1 Part member family in the hopper for baptism. It will really be superb if there could be more families from the location in the branch, I have really been able to realize how important family's are. Without them there really is no personal progression for the eternities. Next Sunday we have a baptism set, I am just waiting for the phone call to see If I will still be here for it or not. This area has really been fruitful, so far it has been my most successful area that I have served in. I really love it here, most Elders actually say that Fish Hoek is and always will be their favorite area, if they had the pleasure to serve here.

I have a new favorite chapter in the Book of Mormon, Alma 26 love it, it directly applies to missionary work. I really love the two hours we have as missionaries to study each day.
Mom and Dad sounds like you are having to put your faith to the test, when do you have to be out of the rental? I am already confused enough when people ask me where I am from, I either say Idaho or Washington. You might as well move back to Peachtree city so I can have three options ha. That would be pretty interesting, I know you will make the best decision, just petition to the Lord and he will show you the way you must go. Golf carts anyone?

I love you all and enjoy getting updates of your lives, thank you so much.

Elder Nielsen

Week 44: July 11, 2011

The last few days here it has been pretty hot, I don't know what is happening because it is supposed to be the dead of winter. I guess it is just South Africa, even when people say it is really cold it is just Mild, at least around Cape Town. I have no complaints though it has been nice to feel the suns warmth, and it seems like all of you are enjoying summer because I can see your tans.

This area is just awesome, we continue to stay busy with all of the people we see on a regular basis. There are a couple more people we have lined up for baptism, one is a lady named Busisiwe and the other is a married couple Moregain and Tatenda. Busisiwe is really smart, and when we first met her she had a lot of smart doctrinal questions, she thinks on a much deeper level than most of the people we teach and it's nice to have an investigator who has an eternal perspective on things. Moregain and Tatenda are a couple from Zimbabwe who have been living here for a little while, they are very committed and have a deep desire to learn more they are scheduled for the 21st of August, and Busisiwe is coming up on the 24th of July. We do have a couple other Investigators with a baptismal date but they are a little bit less committed than the ones mentioned. All the people we meet with have a real great desire to learn and It is awesome to teach them the gospel and help them follow the savior Jesus Christ by having faith in him, repenting and being baptized.

Whenever we meet a new person and sit down with them and have our first lesson we are to Invite them to be baptized. With this approach it gives the Investigator a chance to bring to light his or her concerns about whether or not they want to be baptized. We get a lot of different answers some people say "Well I have already been baptized" and others say "yeah I would love to be Baptized". What I have learned is that when we get the first answer most missionaries will ask how people were baptized or maybe why they were baptized and a lot of the times talk about priesthood authority, and for most of my mission I have had a problem with that approach but I haven't found a solution until this week. What I have come to learn through much study of the scriptures and Preach My Gospel is that regardless of how or for what reason people were baptized elsewhere they still need to baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ, that is what it all boils down to. Surely if someone is Baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ their Baptism will not only last in the books recorded here on earth but also in the books of heaven, Paul talked a little about this subject. The only thing we can do to help investigators is to help them learn that the Church of Jesus Christ is here again upon the earth, and we are given as missionaries a very good Lesson specifically aimed at such people, it is The Message of the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. As missionaries we don't need to mess around with little principles like the correct manner of baptism or priesthood authority, all of that is minutia and will be resolved if the investigator comes to know that the Message of the Restoration is true. For if this is the Church of Jesus Christ and we have a prophet on the earth than the Church itself is established in the manner it should be, and whoever reads and prays with real intent and with sincerity of heart will receive and answer from on high that it is true, and who would not want to enter in the gate by baptism, regardless of any previous baptism. That is what I have been able to learn on that subject, I hope it makes sense because it is definitely not Jane Shaffer material.

I am glad that you Mom and Dad were able to help Ariel and Brian move and returned home safely. Mom any updates on that Job that you were hoping to hear back from? Thank you for the pictures! I haven't received the package yet but I know it is in the Office so it's just a matter of the Zone Leaders distributing it to us, I'm pretty excited for it. I love our new Mission President and his wife, President and Sister Wood are just spectacular, it is sad that President and Sister Probst are no longer here but their time had to come to an end. Colin good luck with the Flight school, today I am sure you enjoyed the flying that is so cool man! Being a pilot would be so exhilarating.

The pictures that are attached are as follows, Me at Cape Point (really cool place, very windy), and baboons on a roof. Until next week.

Love,
Elder Nielsen

Week 42: June 27, 2011

Hello Family and Friends,

I finally have attached some pictures for you all. The first is a picture of Fish Hoek from a hill top nearby, and the second is from yesterday's baptism. Sister Fridah was baptized by brother Dallyn Mclean a priest from the branch. We are having a whole bunch of success here in Fish Hoek. The missionary work is just booming, we are dead tired at the ending of each day.

This week President and Sister Probst leave for home and President and Sister Wood Arrive to replace them. On Friday we will have a Meet the President Zone meeting and will be able to have an interview with President and receive instruction from our Zone Leaders. Just this last week in our last meeting with President Probst, he told us of some of the changes that are happening in the missionary department. I won't go into all that great of detail but to keep it short missionary work is getting much more technologically advanced. It is a very exciting time to be out in the mission field, maybe not as comparable to the time PMG came out but still it is cool to see how much more effective we can be as missionaries doing the Lord's work.

Colin, it sounds like you have got a steep mountain to climb with doing what sounds like a crash course in aviation, I know you will do great because you love flying and when we do what we like we always succeed.

Ariel and Brian, I am sure you are loving waking up every couple of hours in the evenings, I continually pray that you will have a safe move and be able to adjust well into your new environment, take Luck!

To all my buds who are soon departing for their missions, especially Phil, good luck and cherish the time you have in the MTC.

Love you all,

Elder Nielsen

Chase with President and Sister Probst

Week 37: May 23, 2011

How's it? Excuse the African way of saying Hello,

Thank you all for your letters and continuing support. This week was pretty good, yesterday we baptized two people from Masiphumelele the nearby township one named Susan Mushataganda and Ncebakazi. The program was great and the spirit was so strong as the talks were given as as the actual baptism took place. That makes seven baptisms so far on my mission, but that doesn't matter at all.

For mom, we stay in those apartment buildings just opposite of the sun valley mall, if that helps you at all on Google earth or whatever you used to check out Fishoek. The housing is nice, the only downside is that it has been a missionary boarding since the late nineties at least, so the cleanliness is not up to Hansen par ha-ha. But this morning we did some extensive cleaning and made some headway to getting it cleaner. we found some pretty cool novelty items left behind by other missionaries like a scrap tomato jar (basically just filled up with tomato juice and seeds) from Aug 2008, and no we didn't throw it out we just figured that since it had been around since then it wouldn't hurt to keep around a little longer. The area we are in is relatively safer than the whole of South Africa, in many ways Fishoek reminds me of Seattle because of the people who call it home, except with a SA twang which is awesome and I love it.

Other than the last mentioned, we have scheduled a baptism on June 5th so the work continues to progress and we are really excited about a couple of Investigators who we think have been prepared to receive this the Restored gospel. One is Nosphiwo who can has almost been reading The Book Of Mormon non-stop and is gaining more insights about Jesus Christ and his Gospel with every page she turns. Another is Busisiwe who is a good friend of a member and has been on a search for truth for a while now, and after reading the Restoration pamphlet told us that she too wanted us to teach her and baptize her.

In the MTC we were told that Africa was going to become like South America in terms of the strength of the church, except it would be quicker, and I can see that truly the land of Africa is making leaps and bounds in terms of growth. Many people are finding renewed strength and Faith in Jesus Christ by learning of the Restoration and in consequence the Book of Mormon the record of the 'other sheep' spoken of in John 10:16, who Christ visited after his resurrection. I'm really glad that I was called to serve here and I am really enjoying the time I have been given to do this great work.

Sabonyana,
Elder Nielsen

Week 33: April 25, 2011

Yes this Wednesday is transfers, I honestly have no idea what might happen.

I think my companion will go district leader either in this district or in another one elsewhere in the mission. It wouldn't be too bad if I were to stay here in Bellville because I kind of like this place and all the great members and the investigators we have been working with. One more transfer here would make 6 months for me, not too many missionaries get to say they were in one area for that long.

Yesterday we baptized two of our golden investigators, it was really great to see them make that initial covenant with the lord and im sure they will go on to make even more covenants with him in the future. Among other things this week was pretty cool, we ran into some aggressive JW's which was fun because they backed down once they figured out we knew our stuff pretty well. I think they learned that you cannot mess with the truth especially when you are talking to two guys who have been studying and living it their whole lives and especially in the last little while. We were able to bear testimony of the restoration, the plan of salvation, and the simplicities of the gospel of Jesus Christ and we could feel the Holy Ghost bear witness to ourselves and in them as they had no more objections and agreed for us to come back and teach them. That gave us a lot of confidence and a reassurance that all the study we have been doing actually pays off in ways that cannot be expressed in words.

I ran into a scale this week and weighed 85 KG's which is about 187 lbs, and when I left on mission I was only 75 KG's which is just 165 Lbs. Surprisingly most of the weight I have gained is muscle mostly in my legs, at nights I push the car in neutral while Elder Naylor steers. So along with the spiritual muscle and braun I have gained through scripture study, I have also gained physical strength. I am feeling like a beast in every sense of the word ha. I think I will start running soon longer distances and not push the car too much.

Its good to hear that Ariel and Brian have now graduated, and that uncle Kirt was able to see Kailey and Samantha. Also good to hear from you brother Hamilton, always nice to get caught up to speed with Phil and Jordan and their prep for mission.

Take care everyone,

Elder Nielsen

Week 27: March 14, 2011

Shoot I can't believe another transfer has come and gone, time happens that's for sure. There is a little saying that missionaries here In SACTM have around transfers "either I will stay or I will go" which is all that can happen around these times, but right now I would really like to stay in Bellville for another transfer we are having a lot of success and a whole lot of fun.

I think this week I really had a breakthrough with using scriptures in teaching lessons, it was almost like every single topic we were talking about I could find a scripture in the Bible and Book of Mormon that talked about it. In having this skill I feel really comfortable in teaching lessons, I have always been good at just talking to people but now I think I can teach for understanding and really get people interested in the gospel, it's a lot of fun. We are going to have two baptisms on March 27th and then three probably on April 24th, that is really exciting !

Last week's Pday was awesome on top of table mountain you can see all of Cape Town and even see a tiny bit of Paarl, it was really cool to go up there and see things from an overhead perspective. This week we are going to Green market square, I am not sure exactly what it is like but its basically just a huge open market that has a bunch of African trinkets and things so that will be fun.

So Dad was Idaho's basketball team any good this year or was it just an average season again for them? I think you mentioned that they had beat Utah State which is no small task. Sounds like you have a lot of great things in the hopper as far as jobs go or clients for Reliantz.

Mom I received the package that you sent, thank you soo much it was great! currently I have two charcoal pants (suit) one green, and one brown pair.

Becky thank you for sending the pictures of Lydia she is very cute congratulations!

Love you all,
Elder Nielsen