Week 13: Three months out and The Power of The Temple

Aloha kākou!

I have been a set-apart missionary for 3 months!! That's not ok!! The time has absolutely disappeared! We've come so far with the people we are teaching and the progression grows faster.

We had Book of Mormon study again with Sister Kobayashi and we're hoping that soon she will be able to attend church. We read and discussed Alma chapter 47 and how the Adversary uses a small, step-by-step process to tempt us and cause evil.

Then we went slightly outside our normal area to contact some friends who don't see missionaries very often in the Chukese part of Wahiawa town. We met a really cool kid named Joseph (Who prefers J.J.) He has basically been waiting to hear from missionaries! He has such a strong testimony of Heavenly Father and is really interested!

On Tuesday we met with the Fentons again and we taught Paul the 10 commandments. Elder Clapper did a fun activity where you make motions with your hands to remember all the ten. Sister Fenton and Paul both know that in order for him to be baptized they have to get married and he is really receptive to the lessons.

Just to explain where I'm at in the mission so far, I am in my 2nd and last transfer of training. November 2nd is when the next transfer starts and Saturday is when we get the transfer news. That is when we will find out who's leaving and staying. It's honestly something I'm nervous about. I've gotten really close with the families in the ward and we've progressed so far with our friends who are interested in learning more.

On to a happier note  something really funny happened this week. So Elder Lake is a missionary who recently left for his original assignment in Italy. Lucky .  But since he can't take his guitar with him he let me have it! Then one day we went street finding in a certain neighborhood and we saw a guy fixing a motorcycle and I told I really like his drum set. We made small talk and then he asked us if we played guitar. I said that I did. Then he said, "Let's Jam." He brought out an electric guitar and we jammed out in his guitar for a solid 15 minutes! His name was Philip and he said he'd love to have us back!

We were finally able to meet with the Trent family! The dad is the only nonmember and he is so accepting of the lessons! When we were with them we showed a video about the importance of the temple and we invited them to go on a trip to the temple visitors center. It was really funny to see the two boys violently nodding their heads in excitement. They said yes! However we weren't able to this week because a visitor center Sister caught corona or something.

Our meeting with John this week was amazing because he also accepted our invitation to go to the visitors center when it opens back up again! Pocho Ahina (a really busy, and kind, less-active member) and his wife also agreed to go to the temple! We're so excited! They also mentioned that they knew some good places for food so.....yeah that is a DEFINITE plus.

This week was family history week for our ward. On Saturday we had a family history activity where we learned about indexing and how we can do temple and other history work for our relatives that have passed. It made me think a lot about the importance of temples. There is SOOOO much we need to do for those who have passed from this life on earth and didn't have the opportunity to receive the same blessings that we have.

 If you are currently able to attend the temple, I invite you to make temple attendance a priority. If you have not attended the temple, I encourage you to learn more about them and the SUPER cool things that temples are for. I promise that the Lord will bless you, your family, and your families in heaven for the work that we do in the temple. I've been told that when we die, all the people that we were able to help in our mortal lives will thank us with tears of gratitude.

This week has been great despite the trials that only make me stronger. Thank you for your love and support! If there's anything you ever need from me just let me know! 

Aloha!

Pictures! (Everyone's favorite part)

Me and the boys Lost in the woods.

P-day hikes are pretty fun

Clapper's had too many oreos today.

 Elder Baier.

Super weird looking dog.

Scary dog signs. You find them a lot.

 Night picture.

Week 12: Hawaiian Fall is unexpected. But I love it.

 

Aloha kākou!

I'm not sure if I explained at all why last Monday was so chaotic. Monday was interviews with the mission president and a training given by his wife all taking place over 5 hours in their home in Honolulu. In other words, it was a fantastic day...but not really a p-day. 

Then Tuesday was when we had zone conference for all the missionaries on the island of Oahu. During my interview with the President I told him about how I'm learning to be patient with myself and figuring out how I can best use my skills and talents for the mission. We talked a little bit about my background in filmmaking and some videos I'm currently trying to produce. 

He told me a crazy story about how he and Sister Walker were at Universal Studios and they saw Steven Spielberg and his wife. Of course I was shocked. But he also talked about the opportunities for video stuff in missionary work that really inspired me. 

The reason why I gave this email a funny title was because it's now settled in that Hawaii doesn't really have seasons. It's just sort of summer year round. I love it! There's some breezes here and there and it can get colder when it rains but wow the weather is consistent. Maybe it's just because I've spent a lot of my time in California and Utah.

I need to share an experience(well more of a miracle really.) Tuesday was Oahu zone conference where all missionaries on Oahu had training in Honolulu. It's once a transfer so I've been to one before and it was fantastic! There were so many good trainings given by Sister Walker, the assistants to the President, and President Walker. They taught having Faith to Find, different techniques and resources we have to teach, and a lot about breaking out of our cccomfort zone. President Walker gave training on using our sense of urgency as a tool for us to use, not being discouraged, and just having no fear to talk to anyone. 

Then something really unexpected happened. Near the end of the meeting, President Walker got up and told us all that he had a really strong impression from the spirit. The impression told him that there was at least one person outside the building who needed to hear from the missionaries and that if they were given help it would change them and their families lives forever. He then told all us missionaries to go out and find them. Me and Elder Clapper went out the back of the building onto the road and started walking  back out into the city. But then I was drawn to a small, dead-end street right next to the back gate. I couldn't see anyone but I walked right down to the end. At the very last house on the street I saw a woman standing alone on the driveway crying. I ran up and said "Excuse me, we need to talk to you!" Her name was Kathy. She was standing there contemplating going to the hospital to be by her friend Scott who was in his final moments. She had been taking care of Scott for a long time and didn't know what to do. Elder Clapper and I assured her that Heavenly Father was so grateful and proud of her for taking care of Scott. We said a prayer that she would be comforted and that Scott would pass peacefully. She then told us that she had been praying for someone to comfort her and that we were an answer to her prayer. We taught her the restoration and she even took a Book of Mormon. Immediately after that encounter, I said a prayer on the street in gratitude that we were led to help Kathy.

After all the missionaries got back to the conference center, they opened up the mic to hear from all the missionaries and their stories. There were so many people helped by the missionaries that day! So many people accepted baptismal invitations or were made in contact with the missionaries. We gave the Honolulu missionaries a lot of work to do. There was a really funny story where one missionary saw a man shouting "THE MORMONS ARE TAKING OVER THE CITY!!". It was a miracle experience for a lot of people that day.

Not much else happened that was incredibly interesting, at least not like the experience I just mentioned. We were given a lot of food one day and Elder Clapper ended up eating a whole plate of Panda Express, two pieces of chicken from KFC, banana cake and ice cream, and then 3 cups of POG. I tell you, it was quite scary to see what that much food does to a man.

But that was pretty much my week. Continue to believe in miracles and they will come. Go down the proverbial dead-end streets to help the person at the very end. There are a lot of people who feel that they're never going to get help because of where they think they are. Make God's love accessible to everyone by reaching out to everyone like he would. The blessings are endless.

Love you all! Email me if you ever need anything. I miss you all!

Love, Elder Nielsen

Dramatic weekly plan picture for no reason

Cool mural on the park bathrooms

Camel made entirely out of palm leaves(I think)

Morning comp study(my POV)

Cool hike we did yesterday

Me and Elder Clapper posing in a Secret Tunnel

Week 12: Wild Pigs and The Power of the Book of Mormon

Another Beautiful Sunset in Mililiani

 Aloha kāhou!

Glad to be talking to you guys again! This is a later email than usual so sorry for the delay.

This last week, President Walker received inspiration late one night. He heard a voice that stated "The field is ready to harvest." This is a reference to the Doctrine and Covenants 33:3 scripture that says "For behold, the field is white and ready to harvest: and it is the eleventh hour, and the last time that I shall call laborer's into my vineyard."

He invited us to do some pretty cool things to make our goal of baptisms this month. We're reaching out to everyone on record that missionaries have met with before. Meaning that we met a lot of cool people and had some pretty spiritual experiences.

We met three new friends this week Mana, Maya, and Charrissa. I'm currently working on two videos. One conversion story video about the Strain family and an animated video about the first vision!  It's so fun to make and I hope it inspires a lot of people.

I need to tell you one experience we had with our friend Kevin. He loves to have us over to talk and he really loves the gospel. He just doesn't yet see the reason to join any specific church. We recently went to his house right after he got home from being out with his wife. He told us that he was really tired and didn't really want to talk right then but made small talk anyway. I'm not sure how but somehow we got on the topic of wild pigs. 

He talked about how he sometimes goes hunting for them and told us he had a mounted pig head. Of course we didn't believe him, and then he came out of his house with a boar's head on a mount. He showed us videos of pigs out in the wild and they get big! But then we started talking about the Book of Mormon some more. Since we were already talking about pigs for so long he invited us inside. Turns out he's been reading a lot! He asked a lot of really good questions about the Book of Mormon and the church in general. After we answered his questions he thanked and said that the things we said to him sounded familiar to him. He said that he wanted us to come over at another time to discuss more.

I know that the fullness of the gospel that missionaries teach is not common knowledge to everyone, but that's why we teach it. We had a training this week that was all about names; the significance of our own names and why the name of Jesus Christ is important. I am not a Mormon. I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I wouldn't testify of the Book of Mormon if I didn't know that it testifies of Jesus Christ. I bear his name with me everywhere I go and know that this gospel is true.

Again sorry for the delay. Monday was the day we had the training instead of a full p-day so I wasn't able to write then. But as always thank you all for your support. If you need anything let me know and I'd love to help! Love you!

Love, Elder Nielsen

Weekly plan shenanigans.

 Cute big golden retriever doggo.

Random bag with a kidney in it that we found on someone's driveway.

The famous boar's head. Elder Clapper loved it!

 Selfie with the pig. Also I gave myself a haircut for the first time .

One shop we visited apparently was visited by Jason Mamoa.

Week 11: General Conference and Hula!

 Aloha kākou!

Remember last week when I mentioned about the special sacrament meeting? I'd like to explain more about it. So it was about 4 weeks ago when President and Sister Walker told us about the idea of doing a special sacrament meeting. It would be all about the Restoration and the promise was that it would bring a lot of people to baptism. They mentioned a lot of blessings it would give us missionaries as we put our faith in such a meeting. It was this last week when a lot of miracles definitely happened.

Not 3 days after that day, we went to find people around the apartments and we found 3 new friends! Patrick, Robert, and Eric. They all have very strong testimonies of Jesus and the spirit was there so strongly as we talked to them. Robert recently lost his wife and we talked about eternal families and invited him to go with us to the temple. He said yes!!

Also, our friend Jasmine is going to get baptized! We were on exchanges when it happened but Elder Clapper told me that she didn't want to get baptized on Halloween because it's the devils holiday. 

On Thursday me and Elder Clapper went to hula class again so we can talk to the instructor who is around our age. We're not sure yet how to pronounce his name but we got to talk to him after the class was over. We told him about the YSA ward and how it's filled with people around his age and they do sports night every week. He seemed interested. By the way, never underestimate hula  there is a reason that hula dancers are so buff! It's so fun!

We also got to the Hawaii Laie temple with Imelda since she hasn't gone in SOO long. She loved it! We took the family in the visitors center guided by the sister missionaries. She told us as she was walking next to the temple that her main goal is to get back inside. Needless to say, some tears were shed .

I had my first General Conference as a missionary! It was amazing! The spirit was so strong as we got to hear from the Lords ordained apostles and especially from the Prophet! A lot of things became so clear to me and some of my prayers were even answered! If you ever feel that you want to feel closer to hear the voice of God, watch any talk given in General Conference.

If you've never heard of General Conference before or want to better understand what it is, its a big meeting 2 times every year broadcasted to the entire world where the Prophet, women and men leaders of the church, and the apostles give talks after fervent prayer and inspiration from the Lord. It's free to watch and you can watch all past talks on the church website.  www.churchofjesuschrist.org

My testimony of modern-day revelation is so strong and I always feel that God is speaking right to me when I watch. If you have any questions that you want answered, watching the talks is a great resource.

Just always remember that God always awaits talking to you. We are all beloved sons and daughters of our Father in Heaven, you can come to learn of your purpose on this earth if you'll only ask.

Hope you all have a great week and I love you so much!

Aloha!

 Laie Temple!

Weekly plan mugshots

 We found a big cockroach in the church building.

General Conference!

Clapps and I at botanical gardens!