Week 83: Juanas Official Baptism!

 

Aloha everyone!

I'll make this pretty quick since there weren't too many crazy things going on this week.

I finally put out the video that I've been trying to get out since January . When it comes to videos, unless it's either a job, calling, or life or death, I'm really bad with making deadlines. So it took a bit to finish but I'm happy with the final result. I felt the urge to finish it because of another project I needed to start planning. So far, I think I know what the next video will hopefully be about and it's gonna be amazing! A very special topic that's been addressed a lot in church recently....I'll leave you on a cliffhanger .

The Mililani zone, Kaneohe, and Hon-West zones had a combined zone conference this week! Me and two other Elders did a musical number playing guitar and singing "I am a Child of God." The training during the zone conference was all about the importance of studying and how to increase your companionship's effectiveness. Those are big words . Elder Owen, my first mission companion at the MTC, is an AP now! So he gave a really good training. President Sloat gave a few remarks on how to properly give a talk (or sermon in church). I really appreciated that training. Because I want to get better at public speaking in general, I got a lot of good tips on what to do and what not to do.

Every week we meet with this family of less active members and we usually share a message to just their kids. They are the Miyashita family. The younger girls are recently baptized and really want to come to church but the parents are saying no. But soon, we're bringing a lady in our ward who teaches children in Sunday school who wants to help befriend the family and help them get to church.

Danielle has been really sick! She canceled one appointment because she woke up with a cold and felt really bad about canceling. Next thing we know, she's telling us that she is having stomach problems and needs to visit the hospital! Please please please pray for Danielle Kaokai and her husband Walle. They're amazing, faithful people and need your prayers.  

On Thursday I went on exchanges with my old companion, Elder Thompson! You know. The really tall one that I served with for 5 months in h-tech. We met a really nice man named Lee! He's an old man who was very nice and we offered to share with him a message about God's plan of love for his children. He really loved the message! In the middle of the lesson he also asked if we had a church he could attend! Unfortunately he didn't come last Sunday, but I'm sure he'll want to come soon. 

During that exchange, we had a lesson with Waske. He hasn't been keeping up on commitments unfortunately and wasn't super engaged when we were teaching him about commandments. But then I mentioned a bit about the plan of salvation lesson that he really liked and basically told him..."Waske, we follow the commandments so that we can learn to be with God again one day." He understood after being told that. But I also understand that choosing to keep the commandments can be hard to someone who's not heard about them before. Please pray for him as well.

Juana is officially being baptized on March 11th 2023! She finally has a set date! She is so ready and excited for it. In our last lesson, we shared a scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants that says...

"And again, by way of commandment to the church concerning the manner of baptism—All those who humble themselves before God, and desire to be baptized, and come forth with broken hearts and contrite spirits....and truly manifest by their works that they have received of the Spirit of Christ unto the remission of their sins, shall be received by baptism into his church." 

We taught her about the blessings that follow baptism and how important it is to prepare for it. We're so proud of Juana and we know the Lord is too.

On that same day, our friend Jolyn was supposed to be moving! Out of the blue! We showed up to their house to help but not one was home and no one was answering their phone . So we waited for like an hour and finally left. We came to find out later that they had already moved out. Oh well. Bye Jolyn!

On Saturday, we had a really fun service in the morning helping clean out garden plots at the community garden. We saw about 50 centipedes! And I don't know how much you know about Hawaiian centipedes, but they really sting! I've never been bitten by one. But I've heard horror stories. And these were huge. Like as big as my hand! The service was for some less active friends of one of our members. They really appreciated the service and a lot of people turned up!

It was actually a great week. But also really fast. I loved the emphasis in zone conference about study. Studying the gospel  daily is crucial as a missionary and/or faithful Christian. My biggest advice for anyone who feels like they are lacking in testimony, has questions about the church, or is going through a serious crisis in their lives, is to read scriptures regularly and daily. It makes such a huge difference!

I confess, before my mission I wasn't really good at reading the scriptures daily. But with questions, trials, and obstacles I've faced as a missionary, the biggest help to me is reading the Book of Mormon  . I've seen it work miracles in other people's lives too! I know people who wanted nothing to do with the church. But then we start reading the Book of Mormon with them and they want to know more! I know people who were recently baptized but still have serious questions about the church, but are building their testimonies because they read the Book of Mormon every day.

And I, myself, have never known a book that fills me with more peace and has taught me more personally than the Book of Mormon. And I'm not saying it's the only thing you should read. But if you want to come to understand the nature of God and Jesus Christ, then studying their word should come first. I promise infinite blessings from keeping this commandment. 

Well that's basically my spiel for this week. It was awesome. There were other moments this week where I got discouraged. But I've learned to just keep going. And I love being a missionary! 

Thank you all for your prayers and I love you all so much!

Love, Elder Nielsen

Happy Birthday Dad!