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 57: October 10, 2011

Hello Family, Another Transfer

Thank you for the pictures those were fantastic! and that Jeep looks pretty sweet! looks like a sweet ride! I am glad you all had a good week, Dad likes his job and probably is already a member at all of those golf courses In PTC and is loving life. Momma's back in town with all of her old friends from Georgia, I am really glad you are enjoying it, you both deserve it.

My week was pretty enjoyable as well, the second picture of the ones I attached is from Thursday, basically we caught a mole that has been digging around in our yard after our weekly planning/ Lunch time. We were both in shock to actually have caught it because we were just playing around. All we had to do was pour large amounts of water into the whole and he came swimming up, it was really cool never actually seen one of those guys. A part of me wanted to have those smoke sticks that Dad and I used to get those moles from our yard in Serenity lane.

Other than that the missionary work is going really well here, It is amazing to me how Heavenly Father puts people in our path, this week I think we had a couple of people placed in our path who have been prepared by the Lord to hear our message. One in particular is a Lady named Nomveliso. I think the way we found her was totally inspired. On exchanges with Elder Ruzai on Tuesday one of our appointments fell through at university, so we decided to ask around where our investigator might be instead of giving them a call. As we were talking to a few people we ran into Nomveliso who inquired what we were doing wearing smart clothes, it was a perfect opportunity to tell her all about us and our message. She was so receptive and willing to learn I was amazed, we taught her all about the message of the Restoration and left her with a Book of Mormon to read. She was so excited to have additional scripture to read from our Heavenly Father, that day I really felt like I was truly an instrument in the Lord's hand reaching out to his beloved children. There is no better feeling than that.

Mom living with three other Elders is very entertaining, we all have pretty good personalities so it makes it interesting and fun. We have a whole lot of fun and enjoy each others company a whole lot, overall It is just a good experience,

I know that you will all enjoy your week! I pray that you all will and that you will be successful in everything that you do.

Love,
Elder Nielsen