Elder Tyler Nielsen- Hawaii Honolulu Mission: July 2022

Aloha Elder Hoarsley!

Aloha!

I wasn't sure how fast this day would come. It seems in some way unfair that it seems just yesterday that I began representing the Lord. I have now been a missionary for a full 365 days. One WHOLE year. It seems so unreal to me. Missionaries who went home last transfer told me, "It just doesn't feel like I'm going home. It probably won't set in until I actually get home." Well my current thoughts are, it hasn't quite set in yet that I'm here serving a mission. It really feels like just a dream. I hit my year mark last Tuesday, the 19th. I couldn't help but shed a few tears. I'm so happy to be on a mission. I can't wait for the next 12 months here in Hawaii amidst some of the best of humanity.

I also sincerely apologize for not emailing as frequently as I would towards the beginning of my mission. A few days ago, I set some goals for myself for how I want to conduct the rest of my time here. One of those things is to email every week. I realize it's just all about time management. So I'm going to work on writing every single week for the rest of my mission. (I'll strive my best ).

These last couple weeks have been unforgettable. For me and my companion, and also for Kekaha ward as well. Transfer news: me and Elder Tipa are staying here for at least 3 more weeks now. 3 weeks ago, me and my zone leader, Elder Horsely, went on exchanges so I could get more guidance on the area. Elder Horsely served there for a few months. We finally saw Jason who said he no longer wants to be baptized. I'm happy that he was able to have contact with the missionaries and be ready for another time.

On that same exchange, we made 2 new friends! A 16 year old girl named Gwen and a woman named Kwailan. Fast forward, Gwen is very receptive to our lessons and we recently found out that she's good friends with a girl in the ward! And we just saw Kwailan yesterday after losing contact with her for a while. We taught her all about the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how if she has faith then she can follow the commandments of God.

Marsha is still on date for baptism on August 20th. There were some misunderstandings the last couple weeks about baptism, but after pondering it for herself, she decided that baptism is indeed something that she should do. We're so proud of her! I say every time we see her. "Marsha, Heavenly Father is very pleased with your decision and He's going to help you along the way." We're so excited!

We are also working closely with this girl named Alana. She is a teenager but isn't baptized. We talked to her family yesterday and she definitely wants to be baptized! She wants to refresh the lessons and see if she's ready first. Dawson is also actively being taught by us, but is frequently busy. He wants us to constantly remind him of the assignments we give him. Our current strategy is to help him understand the Book of Mormon more.

There's half a dozen other potentially-progressing people we have right now, and we're continuing to see miracles with all of them!

The last couple of weeks have also been great opportunities to hear and learn more from our new mission leadership. President and Sister Sloat are so amazing! We had interviews and zone conference this week with them. In our interview (just getting to know me. Not for a promotion or anything) he asked me how I was and how the work is and we shared a few laughs and I assured him everything was great. In conference the next day, he stressed a lot of importance on striving to be obedient.

That's one of the biggest takeaways that I've learned so far on my mission. If we strive to be strictly obedient, then we'll be blessed. It's that simple. Anytime us missionaries desire to see miracles, we have to be striving to be obedient first and then miracles will follow.

However, striving doesn't mean we're perfect. In the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the last principle we teach is Enduring to The End. It means the same thing. God doesn't ask us to be perfect. He wants us to strive to be the best we can. He knows our hearts and our minds, and he will help us along the way.

Many times while serving in Kekaha, the area will seem slow and that no work could be done there. But every time we persevere, we see an overabundance of miracles.

Miracles will never cease as long as there's faith.

I'm truly grateful for each and every one of you. I'm sorry again for not being a perfect writer, and words sometimes can't project how I feel.

But I can assure you this: I love being a missionary. There's no place I'd rather be right now. Nothing else has ever meant more to me than what I'm doing at this very moment. Every time I even try to comprehend going home, my heart sinks.

I know now more than ever the effect that the Gospel of Jesus Christ has on people and how his atoning sacrifice makes any change possible.

1 year is a short time to do anything. Better not waste this last one. I'll strive my best

Love, Elder Nielsen

P.s. Does anyone have any questions about what Hawaii/missionary work is like? It's a pretty cool/weird place

Our security detail on exchanges with Hoarsley

The Kauai Zone

Elder Hoarsley

Dole Whip!!! Just for you mom :)

Rainbow's are just so beautiful!

Tipa and I studying.

Tipa working hard.

Car wash time.

Let's go there.

P-day hike.

Kauai zone with President and Sister Sloate

Great missionaries.

Behind the scenes of making the Book of Mormon video.

Aloha!

I'm going to make this a shorter one but I'd like to tell you about some pretty cool things happening the last few weeks.

Me and Elder Tipa were out tracting one day and weren't finding much success when down the street came a man riding along on his bike. We introduced ourselves and shared with him the Restoration. I felt really strongly that we should invite him to be baptized. And guess what...he said yes!!! Now here's the part that was kinda weird on my part. I asked him if we could shoot for July 1st. Like two weeks later. And he still said yes! But obviously that hasn't happened. But the fact that he was still willing to be baptized that promptly definitely means some promise going forward. And then I find out later that he's been taught by the missionaries before since 2019! There were some things he had trouble committing to, but maybe now he's ready to commit. To this day we haven't seen too much of him. But we have been able to talk to him and he's still interested in learning if not somewhat.

We went tracting in this one area where a lot of Filipino people live. We've had some good success actually! We taught this one family and in the middle of the lesson u asked if they understood and they said yes. However, their English wasn't too great and I hope they got the gist of the message .

On Friday we helped the Kanahele family build a deck on the back of their son's house. And then later we had dinner with them in the evening. I haven't done any construction work on my mission as of yet so it was fun to see how years of working for my dad has paid off. I'll attach a picture of the almost-finished beauty.

Now for my new mission president. His name is Bart Sloat. He is a retired Marine Colonel and I've been able to see some big changes in the mission already. He has said that he really doesn't like meetings so our weekly zoom call was only 20 minutes and was on Sunday instead of Monday. One thing cool about him that I've heard is that he can quote lots of general authorities and scriptures really well! I haven't met him yet and I'm excited to. However, one fun fact about me is I'm kinda of scared of bigger authority. I've always tried to stay out of trouble and things and I certainly don't wanna mess up in front of him. But I can tell that he's gonna help strengthen our mission in meaningful and long-lasting ways.

Anyway there's other fun things that happened but I'm kinda tired at the moment . Hope you all have a great week! Happy Independence day!

Love, Elder Nielsen