Week 34/ 35: Drones at the beach park, teaching the deaf, miracles!!

Me and Elder Chan

 Aloha Everyone! It was another great couple of weeks!

One cool thing that Elder Chan is really good at is magic tricks. Growing up, sometimes missionaries would teach me and family lessons using magic tricks as object lessons and they were really fun! Well that's how we got to know one family a lot better. I can't remember if I've ever mentioned Christine before, but basically she was a progressing investigator from a while back but kinda came to a point where she just wasn't able to get in contact with missionaries. She's good friends with Bishop Kuriharas family and I've met her once or twice before.

Anyway we thought we should just swing by her house to see how she was and surprisingly was excited to see us! We shared a small message at her front gate and then she said "You guys should come by tomorrow and share a magic trick for my son's birthday!" And of course we said yes! It was so cool to finally make contact with her and to share a lesson for her and her family. We are already making efforts to fellowship her and invite her to continue taking the lessons. President and Sister Walker even invited themselves to have a family home evening with her family!

Another miracle!

We went tracting one day this week and right towards the end Elder Chan had to use the bathroom pretty badly so we went to a beach park with a bathroom. After he got out we found a small drone on the ground. It was really small but it was still on so we thought somebody had just recently lost it. We decided to use it as a tool to ask people if it was theirs and to start conversations. Then we met this couple sitting at a bench and their names were Jenna and Shaw. We easily connected with them and started talking about our beliefs. Elder Chan asked Shaw, "If there was one question you would ask God, what would it be?" he replied, "Why is there suffering in the world?" Then we taught them about the plan of salvation and they took great interest in it. We gave them our number if they ever wanted to learn more.

Another!

We were going to the beachpark to meet some people and we saw a guy flying a drone like an expensive one. His name was Matthew. We asked if we could share a message and then he told us that he appreciated it but he's agnostic. He explained it as he believes that there's a God of sorts but he just isn't sure for himself. We explained that not having perfect knowledge is completely ok. We taught him that after this life, there is a place called the Spirit world where everyone who wasn't able to accept the gospel is able to hear it before we meet God. He thought that was so cool! He said he's never heard of something like that and he asked about what else we believe. We taught him about how we believe that we're the true church of Christ and he said he wanted to learn more. Then his friend comes up and tells him that they need to catch a flight. We gave him a copy of The Book of Mormon and our number and the church website. I hope he continues to learn more!

Another update on Cristine: we stopped by her house again and asked if she and her family would like to join us and the Bishop's family for a family home evening.....THEY SAID YES!!! They have been to the Kurikaras house before and we already started planning it with Sister Kurihara and it's going to be so awesome! I'll keep you updated.

A funny encounter we had the past few days: We went to the beach park again and met some guys named Joshua, Josiah, and Shiato. We interrupted them as they were just chilling on the beach. But they were so inviting and let us join them to talk. The only guy who was basically talking the whole time was Joshua. Now that was interesting because he was heavily drinking vodka. You can easily tell he was so drunk that he was just going off about how there's no purpose in life but to have fun and drink hahaha. We had a good talk though and we shared a brief message. Then when we were leaving, Joshua gave us both hugs and I could smell the alcohol on him GROSS! It was so funny.

We met a new friend at church! His name was Kevin. He told us he found the church through Brandon Sanderson books. It was fast Sunday so he got to sit in as we shared testimonies and he said he really liked it. 

After Sacrament meeting, we taught the message of the restored gospel to a group of deaf people. They are friends of some members in our ward who lead the deaf group. It was a great first lesson and they all seemed to want to learn more.

It was a really great week. It can be rough sometimes but I know that every time we try to go out to find people, we always find a chance to share our message.

Thanks for your prayers! Hope you all had a great week!

Love, Elder Nielsen

Pictures

So glad the mask mandate is over

A member gave us Disneyland popcorn!

My sister's future roommate at BYU is in our ward!

Week 33: First week leading my area, Book of Mormon Class, Missionary Taxi Service 🚕

CHIC FIL A!

 Aloha kakou!

With Elder Thompson out of Kahala, I've now taken the responsibility of leading the area since I'm the companion that knows it better. It's a pretty weird feeling. When I was with Elder Thompson, he was always the one with the phone texting people, scheduling meetings and appointments, and other things while I was driving. That means that for the first week of me being with Elder Chan, it was me who had to text people about appointments and things like that. It was a little stressful but now it has calmed down and Elder Chan has picked it up really quick.

I want to tell you a bit about Elder Chan! He's from Houston Texas. He went to BYU - Idaho and studied computer science. He's really good at playing the guitar and really likes music. He's half white half Chinese. And he has been out for 20 months. Only 4 left.

He's been really great to work with so far. Now to tell you about our week!

On Monday, me and Elder Thompson had our visits with people and went to say goodbye to some of his close friends in the ward. Then we had dinner and a lesson with new convert Brother Nakamura. We Read Mosiah 3:8 and discussed who Christ is to us. It was so amazing to see what Christ means to someone who had been a part of religion before coming to our church, but has a new found sense of who our Savior is and what he had done for us. It was also a painful goodbye because some of the first lessons Elder Thompson taught were with Brother Nakamura right after he was baptized.

Tuesday was the crazy transfer traveling day. We dropped Elder Thompson off at the airport and picked up Elder Chan. He just came from the small Island of Lanai where he served for 6 months! We went back to the h-tech office to work on some things and had our weekly missionary correlation meeting. Honestly that was kind of stressful for me since Elder Chan couldn't really report on anything because he wasn't here! Haha. But it was a good first day with Elder Chan.

Wednesday was kind of crazy as well. There were Elders who were in the process of going to their original assignment and we were tasked with watching over them until they left on their planes. Elder Reeve who would be leaving for Uruguay stayed with us most of the day Wednesday as we went to the pantry for service. It was really fun this time. There was basically no one in line and we were put in charge of putting food in peoples trunks. Then when we weren't doing that we were just talking and getting to know each other better. Just me, Elder Chan, and Elder Reeve. It was a really fun time! Also we had our second Book of Mormon Class today! We discussed the introduction and the first two chapters of 1 Nephi. We discussed having complete faith in the Lord and His commandments and following the prophets. Elder Chan had such a big testimony and it really showed during that lesson.

On Thursday we were once again tasked with looking over some Elders. After our h-tech day, we took Elders' Cantwell and Bourne to Best Buy so Elder Cantwell can have a camera for when he goes to Uruguay with Elder Reeve. Then me and the Honolulu Zone Leaders took Elder Cantwell to the airport while Elder Chan drove with Elder Bourne to say goodbye to some other people on island. While we were dropping Elder Cantwell off I saw Brother and Sister Grace from Mililani 2nd Ward! It was super cool to see them. 

On Friday we went tracting in a neighborhood and met a really cool guy and his daughter. They heard our message and had lots of questions about what happens when we die and what happens to other people when they do bad things. It was a good experience teaching them that God has a fair path for everyone and it's not up to us what other people deserve. Then they had some additional questions that we could tell they were really troubled on and they said that they would try and text us to learn more.

I really loved that encounter because it shows how ok it is to have questions. I've grown up knowing so much about the church already, but that doesn't mean that I can't learn more if I have questions. 

There is a caution however. These days there are lots of questionable things happening and it can get really easy to find the wrong answer. In this problem, the only thing we can really do is pray and ask God for guidance. I've been told that Satan can copy every feeling of the spirit except for one: peace. 

If you think you've found an answer to a question, your question, and it brings you peace and happiness, then you can assume that it's the truth. 

Well that's my week. Hope you enjoyed hearing about my experiences and can't wait to share more next week! Everyday is a new adventure for me! Love you all!

Love, Elder Nielsen

Pictures

Oakleys 

Trying on some sunglasses. I look like Edna from Incredibles

We were making food and some soup spilled all over the kitchen

Us driving Elder Bourne around. He's now home in New Zealand

Elder Chan and my new hat(found in missionary closet)

 Bye Elder T!

Week 31 & 32: Transfer News: I'm a district leader! Bye Elder Thompson!

Behind the scenes hula video

 

Aloha kakou! It's been a crazy last couple of weeks!

Transfer news: I will be staying once more in H-tech and serving in the amazing Kahala ward. But Elder Thompson is breaking his 8-month stride and no longer serving with me! He's going to Kona on the big island.

Everyone at church gave him big thanks and he received lots of leis. I'm really gonna miss him. It's weird to think that he's been out just a little bit longer than me but he's been here his whole mission! Best of luck to him.

Updates on Barry: he has officially decided to not continue being taught by us. He says he does want to be baptized eventually, but is going through too much right now. It's been awesome being able to teach him and see how much his testimony has grown.

However! I went on exchange with a zone leader and met a guy named Ron. He was so nice! Elder Williams signed me and Elder Thompson up to teach him on a Monday  p-day Pros! Well we went by his house and no one was home. But we're definitely going back.

Another cool thing that happened was that we got to see Aunty Cindy on Sunday! Last we saw her we gave her a copy of the Book of Mormon and she said she'd read it. On Sunday she said that she had read the Restoration pamphlet and the first few chapters of the Book of Mormon! She said she was feeling sick and couldn't talk much but I can't wait to see the things she has questions on and would like to learn more.

It's been a really busy week getting transfer news and planning for videos and posting things. Oh by the way we shot a hula video that should be posted this week so look out for that!

One thing I've been thinking a lot about is why I'm currently in the assignment that I am. I'm so glad that I've been able to serve in h tech and to continue serving in the Kahala ward. The work is progressing! It's going to be a busy start figuring out how to lead an area for the first time. It seems that Elder Thompson just knew the area so well that I never had to really worry, but I know I'll get used to it. It's a great honor to serve where I am. Why? Because the Lord put me here. If you've ever wondered why you were given a hard responsibility that tested you more than you ever wanted, I believe it's because you can handle it and you probably didn't realize it.

The Lord will NEVER give you a trial you cannot overcome. But that doesn't mean you have to go through it alone. Take God with you everywhere you go and you'll never feel forgotten especially during a tough time.

Well that's another couple weeks for ya. Thanks for all the support. Please pray for me as a take on a new assignment.......they have made me district leader of the h tech district!! I'm so excited!!!

Love you all, Elder Nielsen 

Pictures:

More Elder T. Blocking my beautiful view of the ocean. 

Elder T.

 Elder T. and I with members

Elder T. and I with the more members.

H tech getting somisomi fish ice cream