Elder Tyler Nielsen- Hawaii Honolulu Mission: Week 23: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

At the mudslide service. It rained the whole time.

Aloha kākou and Happy New Year!

Our mission moved p-day from Monday the 27th to Christmas day so we could party it out! But that also meant that I was unable to send an email. But it was such a fun experience having my first Christmas as a missionary.

Christmas Eve was the day we had zone conference, and then afterwards was a big Christmas party! Everyone was there and we all made gingerbread houses, ate dinner, had a white elephant gift exchange, and received our packages from home. Me, Elder Thompson, Elder Heath, and Elder Hull had dinner with a senior couple in the tall apartment building next door to the tabernacle. Then the whole mission got to watch a movie over zoom called the fighting preacher. It wasn't great quality but it felt so cool that we as missionaries got to watch a movie on Christmas eve together! Before I went to bed that night, I couldn't help but feel so much love from my Heavenly Father. Because even though I'm serving a mission far away from NY family and home, I know that I'm exactly where I should be and it felt just like a perfect Christmas eve.

My family spoiled me with two big packages to open on Christmas morning. I FaceTimed my family at 7 am our time to open my presents in front of them. SO MUCH CANDY!! Other really cool things like a kalimba, a hat, and a spam Christmas ornament. Then, like a typical Christmas back home, we took all our presents and played the rest of our p-day. I probably called my family first a total of 4-5 hours that day. Then we had dinner at the Karaoke house again. I sang "I'll be home fir Christmas" and then we had ANOTHER dinner with my ward mission leader and his wife.

Flash forward, we had a mission zoom call on new years eve where we played games like pad scavenger hunts and the senior missionaries playing two truths and a lie. Then we went to bed, but woke up at 4 in the morning to the sounds of VERY proximate fireworks right next to our building. That's just how Hawaii says happy new year to you 🤷🏼‍♂️ .

We got to do a really cool service this past week! Because of the amount of rain we've gotten recently, one property had a mudslide that collapsed a bunch of trees blocking a stream. We later saw that the stream was a natural spring that ran down the hill into an old Hawaiian garden. The garden was made a long time ago by ancient Hawaiians and they use it currently for taro plants. Super fun!

Some missionary work updates, last Thursday we took Barry to the temple. We asked the Sisters who gave the tour to teach him everything. We knew there was a lot he wanted to learn, but it may have been a little much for him. He liked the experience, but we're not sure if he's completely understood what the spirit feels like. But I feel that we are laying some really solid groundwork that will lead to a very powerful testimony. Either way, any prayers for Barry's progression would be greatly appreciated.

This Christmas season was such a great one. I was anxious to see how much it would actually feel like Christmas being so far from home. I was suprised by how much it felt like home. On Christmas eve I was surrounded by hundreds of young men and women, who act under same purpose to represent the Lord. We were all there celebrating the birth of our Savior and the gift He is.

I hope you all had a great holiday season. My prayers and love go to each one of you. Happy new year! Have a great week!

Love, Elder Nielsen

Pictures