All in all, it was a pretty great week

Eh, Me Duckies!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! It is an amazing time of the year! What a week it has been. Like always, things are crazy here in Atlantic Canada. I actually brought my planner with me this time, so I might be able to remember something that we did, haha.

Monday: It was a pretty average Pday. Nothing too special. We took a nap, and cleaned our apartment. After the pday festivities, we went over to a members home for supper. It is strange having to get used to all new members again. Its like being green all over again. But it's all fun, and great getting to know new people! After supper we went and visited a recent convert. Great guy. Overall it was a pretty average day, nothing overly exciting.

Tuesday: It was interesting on Tuesday. I ended up doing a lot of area book work in the morning. In that area book work, I called a former investigator and asked if they would still be interested in meeting with missionaries. Her answer? "Well, yeah... I'm getting baptised tonight..." The sisters had a baptism that night, and nobody told me... Awkward situation... But I got to go to a baptism, and be one of the witnesses, so that was fun. It ended up being a pretty great day!

Wednesday: I gave my first ever district training on Wednesday! That was interesting... I hope it comes with time, or else this district leader thing is going to be uber awkward... But, I survived and made it through the day. That evening we went out to Liverpool to visit some members and had a great time. They cooked up some muscles, and we forced some of the missionaries who hate seafood to try them. It was fantastic! We went back to Bridgewater and had supper with our Landlords. They are the sweetest couple you will ever meet. After supper they recruited us to go carolling with them, because it was something that they had been doing with their children for over 35 years, and they didn't want to give it up now just because nobody was home for Christmas. It was so much fun! It was a fantastic way to close out the night.

Thursday: CHRISTMAS! It was a pretty good Christmas here. It was +15C and pouring rain, so just for the information of you back home, it is possible, even in Canada, not to have a white Christmas. We ended up going around to a lot of members homes for Christmas. There are families here who have had the missionaries every year for Christmas, and weren't about to give that up just because someone else had them scheduled. We ate so much food! But that is the best part of the Holidays, eating until you want to explode! (The missionaries in Sackville forgot to bring my parcels, when they came down for district meeting, so I'm hoping I get to have my Christmas on New Years :D)

Friday: It was a rough day. Weekly planning. We visited a less-active family in the evening.... that's about it....

Saturday: Our plans got all out of whack on Saturday, so I don't actually know what we did... I just know it isn't what I wrote in my planner.... Sorry guys....

Sunday: It was a pretty good Sunday. We were doing a fast with the whole Zone, so not a ton of food was consumed. Church was pretty great. I had to stand up in Sacrament meeting and introduce myself to the ward. I am still awful at getting up an speaking without having anything planned. I haven't developed that magical missionary skill yet. It was probably the most undignified I have been in public in a long time. I ended my introduction with a thumbs up... It was pretty bad... But, hey, I'm not going to be forgotten any time soon, so there's that.

All in all, it was a pretty great week. Sorry it wasn't too long of a letter this time, I'll try harder next week to make it a good one.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas, and remembered to #ShareTheGift. You are all incredible and I love you!

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple Leaf, Sorry about that, eh?

Elder Nielsen

Well, here we are again.

Hello!

Elder Hansen and I when we were mini Golfing

Well, here we are again. Wow.... It has been quite the past couple of days.... Changes are really weird. I prefer staying put. But that is the life of a missionary, I guess. I actually forgot to bring my old planner, so I don't have all of the details for what I did this week, so here is what what I remember from this week....

Monday: We had a pretty great Pday. WE did all of the usual missionary things, and then actually went out and had some fun. We went Mini Golfing with the Halifax Sisters, and it was so much fun! After we finished, we went out to Hammonds Plains to meet with one of our investigators. He is officially on date for January 10! I am so excited for him! (Every time I talk to the missionaries in Sackville they tell me that he is doing great, and is progressing more and more every day)

Tuesday: We met with a lot of people on Tuesday. I got to have a lesson and say goodbye to all of the less-active members that I had been working with. It is really hard having to say goodbye when you have become so attached to the people. It was a pretty hard day. I can't remember anything else that we did... I wish I had my planner with me...

Wednesday: We were all over the place on Wednesday. There was so much that we had to do before I left. We met with our investigator again, and he was doing awesome! We finished up all of the lessons with him, so he is ready to go! That night we had the Bridgewater Elders come and stay with us so that they could get to the transfer van by 6:30 the next morning, so I got my companion a day early.


The sisters made me a #SACKVEGAS shirt for a going away present

Thursday: Transfer day. We dropped one of the Elders off at the mission home early in the morning and then spent the rest of the day working in Sackville. We ended up getting a ton done through the day, so it was pretty fantastic. We got to go to the Missionary Session at the temple, so that was pretty exciting. My new companion was sick, so he didn't go through, he just sat out in the front room and waited for us to come out. There was a vehicle that needed to be taken down to Bridgewater, so we got permission to drive separate vehicles down. Most glorious hour and a half of my life! I forgot how great it is to be alone! We finally got back to our apartment just in time to plan our next day and for me to conduct my first missionary Call-Night. Good stuff!

Friday: We had quite the day on Friday. We had weekly planning, which went a lot faster than I am used to because we don't have any investigators right now. Not a lot to plan for when you aren't actually working with anyone. Later on we went out to Lunnenberg for a supper appointment with a family. It's great getting to know the members a little bit better.



Elder Hansen and I with one of the members. Fantastic Lady!

Saturday: We started the day by going out and giving a member a blessing. She was such a sweet old lady, I wish we could have stuck around longer to talk to her. We spent the rest of the day working on an event that a family runs here in Bridgewater called "A Night in Bethlehem". It is a church sponsored Live Nativity, with all sorts of fun things going on around it. All sorts of shops and games and animals. It was pretty great! That event took up our whole day!

Sunday: The Sunday before Christmas is a lot of fun around here. We received a ton of gifts and goodies from the ward members, they are all so sweet. I got drafted into the Ward Choir that was performing that night, and ended up singing a solo version of "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" at the Christmas concert that night. It was a fantastic day full of music and getting ready! We had a supper appointment with a family, and they were great! They people out here are so funny!

Well, that is all for my week. I don't think I have any more news to give, and if I forgot anything I will let you know next week!

I hope that everyone is have a good week.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! Here comes the cheesy missionary Christmas Testimony:

I know that this time of year is really fun, but it is also a time to remember the amazing gift that the savior Jesus Christ is to the world. There is so much that he did for us, that it is impossible to put into words!

 

Romans 8 35-37:
 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
 36 As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
 38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
 39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
HAve an amazing Christmas, and know that the Lord Loves you, and so do I!
Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple leaf, Sorry about that, eh?
Elder Nielsen
PS. My new address is 105 Darius Wile RD. Wileville, NS B4V 5L4

A BAPTISM IS COMING! ...... and a transfer........

Hello!

Me rocking my Sackville pride (and it's a hockey jersey, so what is more Canadian than that?)

What a week it has been! I can honestly say this has been one of the more crazy weeks of the mission so far! I have a lot of stories to tell this week :P

Monday: It was probably the most sane day of the week. We did all the normal P-day things, went shopping, and shopped at some thrift stores. Later we had Family Home Evening and only one person showed up. Even the Sisters didn't come. So we had a nice FHE with just myself, Elder Hansen, and a less-active member. It was a pretty good night. The sisters had prepared the lesson, so we didn't end up having one... we just played a game and had fun. 

Tuesday: The rain started. We went out street contacting. The rain continued. We had a great visit with a less-active member, and got a lot of things worked out with her. It kept raining. We had supper with an awesome family, they are such great member missionaries! Still raining. We finally made it out to go sing at the Seniors Home again, and they loved it! I missed singing for them! The rain kept on coming down.  Biggest storm of the year so far. 

Wednesday: More Rain. CHRISTMAS ZONE CONFERENCE! It was pretty great! We got to watch Meet the Mormons, and had a silly talent show, and a white elephant gift exchange. For lunch, President took us out to Swiss Chalet and we were aloud to order either the 1/4 chicken or the 1/2 chicken.  (They literally just cut a whole chicken in half and bring it out to you.) It was a pretty great night. At the end of the conference we found out that the Highway had flooded and we had to stay in Halifax for a while. We went to the Stake Choir rehearsal because it was held in Halifax, and thanks to my handy-dandy GPS, at the end of the night we were able to find some back roads back to Bedford to drop the sisters off, and make it back to Sackville safely.

Thursday: We had a lot of stuff planned for Thursday, but at about 10:00 in the morning we got a phone call from one of our investigators saying that a house he was working on had completely flooded overnight and he needed our help bailing it out. So we spent the rest of the day in the basement of a house with a Water-Vac taking Gallons and Gallons of water out of this house. It was pretty sad. We did our best, but in the end we weren't able to save the carpeting, so it all had to be taken out. After we left the house we showered off and were just about to head out the door to do work when we got a call from the Halifax Sisters saying that they needed help with a service project that they were doing.  So, we jumped in the car and drove back out to Halifax to the rescue. We spent the whole day doing service. We did make it back in time to meet with a less-active member, so we did end up doing at least a little bit of missionary work :P finally we got back to the apartment, and it started to rain again.

Friday: We were supposed to have weekly planning, but we got another phone call. It rained all night and we had to go back and help with the house again. It was terrible. The entire floor had rotted. There was even Black Mold starting to grow. We scraped all the staples out of the floor so it could be treated, and finished taking the carpet out of all the rooms. We had another full day of cleaning out this sad little house. We got home late in the evening, and were just about to sit down for weekly planning when we got a call from a ward member asking if we could come help set up for the Ward Christmas Party. So, we spent a majority of the night setting up tables and putting up lights and getting ready for a party. We were able to find a little bit of time at the end of the night for weekly planning, so it all worked out in the end.

Saturday: Saturday was a little more calm, but also really exciting! We did a normal day of contacting, and had a great meeting with a less-active member. That night we had the Ward Christmas party. We thought that we would be able to just go and mingle and talk with people, but we came in and they put us right to work. We ended up not being able to go to the party at all because we were stuck in the kitchen serving food! It was really fun though. After the party was over, our investigator that came to the party came up to Elder Hansen and I and told us that he is ready to be baptized! We are meeting with him today (Monday December 15) to work out all the details! I'm so excited for him!

Sunday: It was a pretty interesting Sunday.... We got transfer letters first thing in the morning. I'm being transferred down to Bridgewater to be the District Leader for the district that I'm in right now... That's pretty exciting! I spoke during sacrament, and lost most of my talk, so it ended up being really short, and I'm hoping that it was okay... And then we finished out the night by performing in a Musical fireside put on by the stake with the Stake Choir that we had been rehearsing with. I Ended up having a Solo in "Oh Holy Night", and that was pretty fun. It was a beautiful night of music! I loved it! 

So yeah... that was my week. It was pretty great. Lot's of stuff going on! 

I hope everyone is having a good week, I will have to get you my new address when I get down to Bridgewater! Have a great week, and don't forget to #sharthegift ! Merry Chirstmas! 

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple leaf, Sorry about that, eh?

Elder Nielsen

 

Real Malls are CRAZY!

Well Hello There!

So, here we are again. Another Monday. Already the middle of December. Almost the end of the transfer already.... Things are getting crazy around here! So, here is the rundown for the week:

Monday: P-Day. We ended up going out to Dartmouth and going to the mall. Man... Real malls are crazy! Our little St. George mall is nothing compared to the Mic Mack Mall in Dartmouth. So big. While wandering the depths of the mall, we found the Holy Grail... Taco Bell! Just so you know, it is just as good here as it is back in the States, plus they have Taco Poutine! Everything is better when you have Poutine! We ended up not having Family Home Evening because all of our regulars got sick and couldn't make it, so we ended up going home and doing some good old fashioned Area Book work. Good times. 

Tuesday: Probably the most crazy day of our week. It was pretty draining. We planned in too many RCLA visits... That's really all I can say about that... they were draining.... We had supper with a great family, and got to watch President Eyrings talk at the Vatican. It was pretty great. The Apostals of our church know how to lay down the law, and how to share the Gospel like none other, it's almost like they are inspired men or something :P

Wednesday: District meeting. I spent most of the day driving down and back from Bridgewater (I'm the designated driver now, so I get to do that kind of stuff), which was just too much fun! We rocked out to MoTab Christmas music and just had a jolly good time! Later that night we had a meeting with our awesome investigator! He is doing so great! We talked about the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and he took it very well. We invited him to be baptized, and he said yes, but because of a long story that unfolded after that, we weren't able to set up a date with him yet. But, it is going to happen, and I really hope that I survive this transfer to see it happen next transfer!

Thursday: President came to Sackville and did a training with us and the Sisters about how to best use facebook... It was pretty intense. President goes pretty hard on his training. Luckily we survived, and made it out in pretty much one piece. A couple of damaged ego's, but nothing that cant be salvaged. We stopped by a potential that we had knocked into, and we ended up standing in his doorway for over an hour while he talked at us about the book that he is writing... We are not going to be teaching him, he just likes having someone to talk at... 

Friday: We got up early in the morning to go to Seminary at the church, but ended up not going... I just wasn't having it that morning. We had a companionship study with the Bridgewater Elders over skype, and that was super fun, and totally productive... Right after that we sped home and did our Weekly Planning, my favorite part of the week (Insert Sarcasm). After our planning session, we went out and met with an member. I love meeting with her, she is great. Friday night we went over the church and helped set up for a baby shower. I really wish I had thought to take pictures in the moment, because we are master decorators. I was pretty impressed.

Saturday: There was a French temple session on Saturday, so we got to take care of one of the Elders from Moncton who didn't speak French while his companions were in the session. That was weird. I really hope I never serve in a Trio... It is just awkward. We had an lesson fall through on us, so that was pretty disappointing, but we got to go over and see the recent convert that we never get to see because we never have a third person to go with us, so that was really great. Other than that it was a pretty normal day.

Sunday: It was a great day! We had our investigator come to church for the second time, and he really loved it. It was Fast and Testimony meeting, and the testimonies were just perfect! He stayed for all of church, and even gave some great input during Gospel Principals and Priesthood! After the meeting he told us that we had "Made a believer out of him" and he cried a little bit. It was incredible! I'm so excited for his progress! We went out to Halifax for Stake Choir practice that night... Believe it or not, I ended up getting coerced into singing a Solo for one of the songs... No matter how hard I try to lay low, I always end up performing for things out here.... 

I guess that is the end of my week. It was pretty great as you can see. I hope everyone is having a great week, and an awesome kick-off to the Christmas season! I love y'all!

Don't do drugs!

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple leaf, Sorry about that, eh?

Elder Nielsen

So much food.... So many Kilometers

Hello!

I am trying to figure out a way to start my letters that doesn't sound exactly like every other letter that I have written, because I'm pretty sure people would probably be getting sick of reading the same stuff over and over again. I'm just boring like that, sorry. (Haha, already apologizing like a Canadian) So, here we go, I'll see if I can dig us some interesting stories for yous guys (Adding S's to the end of words is a Nova Scotia thing... It makes me crazy)

Monday: Great P-day. We took a long nap. Naps are great. If you are in the place to take a nap, you take that nap, and enjoy it. Seriously one of the best decisions to make on a P-day. After our super eventful day, we went and did Family Home Evening at the church. We had only planned for an hour, but one of the people who came started talking about conversion stories, and we ended up having a great conversation, and staying way past the hour we had planned. Needless to say, we didn't get any finding time in, but we got to know a couple members of the ward a little better, so it was totally worth it. 

That's my boy!

Tuesday: Haha, Tuesday was so crazy. We did the normal missionary thing in the morning, knocking on doors and what not. While we were out knocking, the sisters called us and told us that they had someone sign up on the wrong dinner calendar, and their supper appointment was actually for us. The only issue was that we already had a supper appointment for that night, and it was on the exact opposite side of the area. So what did we do? We went to both appointments. So much food.... So many Kilometers... But it was worth it! That night we were supposed to go to the seniors home to sing, but both us and the sisters were going to be late, so it got cancelled. I was pretty bummed about that. But hey, sometimes those things happen, what can you do?

Wednesday: District meeting. It was a pretty good meeting. Our DL is new, and still getting the hang of things, but he is doing really well. The Zone Leaders were there, so that stressed everyone out, but it ended up being really good. Wednesday night we went out to Hammond Plains and met with our investigator (He's the only one we have left...) He is doing great. We had to do a lot of clean up because his wife had tried to explain the Kingdoms of Glory to him before we got there, and he was so confused, but we finally got it almost worked out. He said that he doesn't understand how it works, but he can accept that it is true. I'm really excited for him! We ended up missing our Family History class because our appointment with him went really long, but the sisters were there to save the day. After Family history we had correlation with the Ward Missionaries, and great things are going to be happening here in Sackville :D

He is sad because one of them fell out.

Thursday: AMERICAN THANKSGIVING! Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I wished everyone here a Happy Thanksgiving, and they just looked at me like I was a crazy person and stuck in October. So it is great to say it to people who will just think I'm a little late. We had an awesome American Thanksgiving supper at the Bishops house with all the Americans in the ward. So much fun. It was great getting to know some of the members, and to just kick back and be American for a minute, haha. We did have to duck out from the supper a little early because we had an appointment with a Less-Active member, but it was still a great time!

Friday: Weekly planning. We spent a lot of time in the apartment working on an assignment from bishop. We had a whole list of Less-Active single adults that we needed to call and confirm all of their information. Awkward... Old ladies just laugh at you when you ask them if they are still single. It's pretty great. We went knocking out in Bedford, and found some beautiful houses. Nobody was interested, but we didn't even care because for once we weren't knocking in a sketchy part of town. (We usually knock the sketch areas and let the sisters have the nice ones... We are just nice like that.) Not a ton else actually happened on Friday...

Saturday: Saturday was cold. The morning was just bitter cold. We still went out street contacting, but it was so cold. Bright, sunny, and -4C with 90% humidity. It was fantastic. We met with a couple of Less-Active members, and then went back to that really nice neighborhood and knocked again. We aren't leaving it until we are done!  

Sunday: I was supposed to speak in church on Sunday, but the other two speakers went way over their time limit, so they rescheduled me to speak in two weeks... on a different topic... So I spent all week preparing a talk, just to have it thrown away and have to speak on something else later... I was pretty upset. Our investigator got really sick, so he wasn't able to make it to church, but they committed to come next week.  We went knocking out in the boonies in a little area near where we had a supper appointment, and we actually found a potential investigator. He was really nice, and it kinda surprised both of us. People don't usually say yes...We had supper with a fantastic member family. They are so much fun! We finished out the night by going to Halifax to practice for the Stake Choir thing that they have going on. (It's run by other missionaries, so that makes it really hard to say no...) That was pretty much our entire Sunday.

And that brings us back to now. It was quite the week. 

I do have something else to say that doesn't really fit into any of the days... I have a Tim Hortons addiction... Their Hot Chocolate it just too good.... It's pretty bad. I am becoming more and more Canadian as the days go on. :D

Gotta Have My Tim's

I hope everyone is having a great week! I love all of you! And I hope I will have some good stuff to report on next week.

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple Leaf, Sorry about that, eh?

Elder Nielsen

 

 

 

From Baby Elephant to Walrus...I'm working my way up!

Hello!

 

Oh man... What a week. It has been a rather long week here in Sackville... I will try to sum it up for you... 

Monday: It was a pretty average P-day. I finally got a hair cut, so I don't look crazy anymore, so that's a plus. After all the p-day fun was over, we went and had Family Home Evening. It was fantastic. We watched The Restoration video and talked about what the restoration has brought into our lives, and it was really great! It is such a powerful topic, I recommend the movie if you haven't seen it. (You can get a copy from the missionaries if you ask really nicely :P)

 

Tuesday: I don't really have a whole lot to report for Tuesday... We did a lot of knocking and made a lot of phone calls out of the Area Book, but other than that most of the day was pretty usual. We did have an appointment with an investigator, and it went great! He is progressing, and is doing amazing! I love going out to teach him!

 

Wednesday: District meeting. It was the first district meeting that we have had this transfer, so it was interesting getting to know the new district. In the last transfer, one person from every companionship got moved, so we had to get to know each other all over again. But good news, my spirit animal has changed from a baby elephant to a walrus, so I'm working my way up! The rest of Wednesday was pretty standard. Lots of knocking. We went to teach our Family History class, but nobody actually showed up, so we got to have a mini correlation meeting with the sisters before our correlation with the ward missionaries. Extra correlation time is always appreciated.

 

Thursday: It rained a lot... But being the smart missionaries that we are, we went out and street contacted... not a good idea... I feel like I have said the exact same thing in a previous letter, so you know that we don't learn from our mistakes. After smartening up and coming inside, we made a lot of phone calls out of the Area Book. That night we had a great supper with a member family, and they were fantastic. We had a lesson cancel on us, so we stayed at the members house for a little while and got to have some great gospel discussions with them. Good times.

 

Friday: Weekly planning. Weekly planning is always so fun because you don't actually end up going outside until about 3:00 and once you get out there it's cold and you want to go back in, haha. But we went out and we knocked away. That evening we had a lesson with a less active member, and he asked us to teach him the first lesson, just so he could see what it was like (He served a mission back when there were memorized lessons and flip books, so he wanted to see how we do it now).  It ended up being a really good lesson, and we all learned a lot from it. 

 

Saturday: It was a really hard day... We got dropped by the person that we had on date for baptism. He wont answer the door, or pick up his phone, or reply to texts or facebook messages... It's pretty sad. Later in the evening, we ended up having to drop two more investigators... we lost three investigators in one day. It's always a bummer when things like that happen. But we keep working, and hope for the best to happen. There will be more investigators.

 

Sunday: Church! We had an investigator (the same one from Tuesday) come to church, and that was really great! He really enjoyed it. He could only stay for the first hour, but him and his wife committed to coming next week, and staying for the whole time, so it's going to be fantastic. We have dinner with them on Wednesday, so I will let you know how that goes. After church we were supposed to have a meeting with a potential investigator, but she never actually showed up, so that was pretty disappointing. Later in the evening we went to the Stake Choir practice for a Christmas concert that they are doing... Public choirs are hard, and make me sad, but we keep going because they need people. 

 

So, yeah, that is basically the life of a missionary. We haven't done anything today worth mentioning, so I will let you know next time if there is anything that happens today. 

 

I hope everyone is having a great week! I love you all!

 

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple leaf, Sorry about that, eh?

Elder Nielsen

Out of every trial comes a blessing

This is me pretending I like snow

Hello again! 

Well, it's been another crazy week out here in the Maritimes. Life just gets crazier the longer I'm here, so it is just one of those things that I have learned to accept. It was honestly, one of the most interesting weeks I have had out here, and I really hope I'm able to put it into words for you... I hope I can do it justice.

Monday: P-day. We ended up doing a lot for our P-day. We went over to Dartmouth to a little restaurant called Cheese Curds. Anyone want to guess what they serve there? POUTINE! I had some delicious Pulled Pork Poutine, and it was amazing! So good. After our P-day was over, we went and set up for our Family Home Evening, and we waited, and waited, and waited, and nobody actually showed up... So we had correlation with the sisters, and went on with the rest of our night... It was pretty sad. Knocking out here has become pretty miserable at night. We have reached the point where it gets too cold at night, so people wont answer the door. And it's only starting to get cold, so it's going to be a grand winter.

Tuesday: The rain started on Tuesday... We wanted to go out street contacting, but it was too rainy, and cold outside... We still went out, obviously, because that is what we do, but we didn't really talk to anyone... But it was still fun. Going out in the rain is actually really fun. Knocking was great. Even now that it is colder, people have no pity for anyone who subjects themselves to the rain. We had a supper appointment with a really great family, and had a really great gospel discussion with the parents. After supper, we drove to the opposite end of the area (probably about 35-40k away) to an appointment with an investigator. When we got there, they weren't home... They had gone away last minute and had forgotten to let us know... Because it was dark and cold in an unlit area, we couldn't even do any work while we were out there, so we had to come back to Sackville to do what we could to salvage the night here. 

Wednesday: More rain. We made the mistake of going out to the park to do some contacting and make so phone calls... You would think we would learn our lesson about going out in the rain, but nope, we aren't that smart :P. We tried to go contact a former who disappeared of the face of the earth, but we couldn't get a hold of him, so we called his cousin, and she said he didn't want to meet with us anymore, but she would keep trying to convince him. I love members. That evening we went and set up for our Family history class, but the sisters asked us to go visit a less-active man who needed some help, so we didn't actually get to stick around for any of the class. After our visit with the less active, we went back to the church for correlation with the ward mission leader and ward missionaries.

Thursday: We had to do our weekly planning a day early this week because we had Zone Conference. So that took up most of our morning. We spent a good portion of the day inside, making calls, and trying to get some contacts out of the Area Book. We did get an appointment set up with a former investigator (I will tell the rest of that story later), but other than that, it didn't amount to much. We went out knocking, and met a really nice man who talked to us on his front porch for over an hour. After we had talked for a long time, he let us know that he was an atheist, but if he were to ever join a church it would be the mormons, so we are totally going back later to try and talk with him again. We stopped by one of our investigators houses that night, and found out that he had extended his hunting trip for a few more days, and wouldn't be home for a while... But his daughter told us that he told her to let us know that he really wanted to talk to us when he got home... We are hoping that that is a good thing.

Friday: Snow. We had Zone Conference Friday morning from 10:00 am to about 5:00 pm, so it took up most of our day. I had to get there early because I was doing a special musical number with a group of elders, and we had to practice together before we actually performed. We did "Ye Elders of Israel" A Capella, it was pretty great. After Zone Conference, we had to rush out to Mount Uniak for a supper appointment... Never rush in the snow... I learned that... It was probably the most terrifying thing ever. There was no real incident, but there was some sliding on the road, and I learned my lesson. Next time, Elder Hansen drives :P On the way back, I took it nice and slow, and there was no more sliding. We made it back to Sackville in one piece. 



The Missionaries in my area

Saturday: We got a call from the sisters on Saturday morning right before we went out working for the day, asking if we could possibly come to a lesson with them that afternoon. It was the very first lesson that they had had with this new investigator, and he loved it. Everything we said made sense to him, and he just took to it so fast. At the very end of the lesson, we put him on date for Baptism for December 20th (which is 2 days after transfers, so I hope I'll still be here for it!). After the lesson, the sisters passed him off to us because he is a single male with a young son, and it just made more sense for us to be able to stop by and see him whenever we wanted to. I'm so excited for him. Later that afternoon we had a lesson with the former that we found in the area book... That was pretty bad. He didn't actually want to talk about the gospel, he just knew some missionaries when he lived in England and so he lets them come over to his house any time they call. He had some interesting stories, but didn't want anything to do with the church... awkward... After that lesson, we drove out to Windsor for a meeting with an investigator... We got there and talked to him for a while, and he let us know that he wasn't really interested in meeting with us, he just like the company. He was also meeting with the Jehovah Witnesses too because he likes the company. So there's that... We ended up going all the way back to Sackville with nothing to show for our time in Windsor...

Sunday: Another great Sunday. Elder Hansen spoke it church, and I got to watch from the audience, so that was fun. Ward Choir was fun as any ward choir could possibly be -.- and we got to go out and have supper with the Bishop and his family, which is always fun. After Bishop, we came back and had a meeting with a less active, and he is going to start coming to Family Home Evening, so that is a step in the right direction. 

 

So there we are, back to Monday... I got my hair cut today, and that really is about everything I've done so far. 

 

I hope everyone is having an amazing week, Don't get into too much trouble! 

 

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple leaf, Sorry about that, eh?

Elder Nielsen

 

 



  

All Current Investigators are Still Alive

An area we were walking in, really pretty

Hello there!

Well, here we are again. It's pretty incredible that we can already be back to a Monday again.... I don't think I have too many exciting stories to tell for this week... All of our current investigators are still alive, so that is always a plus... Lets see if I kind find something to talk about... It's going to be tough... 

Monday: P-Day. It was probably the most crazy P-Day ever.... We had so much to do, and my companion still needed to get packed, so we didn't have a ton of time to actually do anything too fun or crazy... We did take an hour and go get sushi. That was great! Sushi right next to the ocean is fantastic! Who knew that fist tastes better when it's fresh? Later that evening we had Family Home Evening, and had some fun discussions with the members that came. All together it was a pretty great day.

Tuesday: I'm looking at my planner, and seeing everything that we had planned to do on Tuesday, but I really can't remember what we did... That's really embarrassing... I'm having a senior moment... Awkward...

Wednesday: We had so much to do on Wednesday, and we planned our day so tight that we didn't actually end up eating at all... Oops... But yeah, we had to go get our car fixed (It had 2 safety recalls on it and was basically a screaming metal death trap...) and so we spent most of the morning in the mission office writing thank you cards that we were behind on. After we got our car back, we went and did a couple of member visits. After our visits we had a lesson with an investigator over Facebook (Yeah, that's totally a thing that we do here), and then jetted off to another lesson with an investigator in Hammonds Plains (It's like half an hour away from where we live). Right after the lesson we had to run back to the church for the Family History class that we teach, and were already late for. And to finish out the night we had correlation with the new Ward Mission Leader and the only Ward Missionary in our ward right now. Crazy day!



Elder Blum and I right before he left (at 6:00 in the morning)
 

Thursday: Transfers! We had to be at the mission home at 5:50 am so that everyone who was leaving could be in their new areas at a decent time. So I picked up my new companion(Elder Hansen from Utah)

 

, and we were home before it was time for studies. My new companion was serving in Dartmouth before coming to Sackville, so I got to introduce him to the simple life of outside the Metro (but still technically in the Metro... It doesn't really make sense). 

Elder Hansen

We went street contacting for over an hour and only came in contact with about 6 people, and that blew his mind! I was pretty impressed though, with only talking to six people, he got a new potential and set up an appointment with her, that never happens! He is a pretty solid missionary. It's a little different of a life outside of the city. We got to go to the Temple with all of the metro missionaries, and that was really cool. Sackville usually gets forgotten on those trips, so it was really nice to actually get invited. It was so cool going with lots of other missionaries! I loved it!

Friday: We started out with weekly planning like usual on Fridays. It's really hard to plan when only one of you knows the area and the people... I would probably bet that it would be even harder to plan if the area was whitewashed, so I'm really glad that didn't happen. We did a lot of knocking. That is always fun. We had a supper appointment with a great family in the ward, and we ate traditional Canadian food, Tacos. It was pretty great. Afterwards we had an appointment with a less-active member, and he really just wanted to talk to the new Elder, so we didn't get anything done in that meeting... haha

Saturday: We had a ton of our plans get changed and fall through on Saturday, that I'm not even completely sure exactly what we ended up doing. I know that we knocked for three hours and got less than thirty contacts, so it was a pretty disappointing day, but that is just how life is sometimes. I got to introduce my companion to some of our crazy less-active members, and they all loved him! It's going to be a pretty good companionship I think.

Smarties are called Rockets here? Weird...

 

Sunday: It was what they call "Family Sunday" here in Sackville, so we didn't have any extra meetings, we actually got to have our studies in the morning, and go to church like normal people. It was pretty great. After church we had ward choir, and you know how much I love being in ward choirs *insert sarcasm here*. I actually really do love it, it give me a chance to do something I love that is fun, so I don't have any complaints about it. We were supposed to have a supper appointment with a really great family, but the dad got sick. They were really nice though, and ended up bringing supper to us at our apartment! It was really sweet of them! We did a lot of area book work that night, and only like three people out of the fifty we called actually picked up the phone... I'm pretty sure people are screening our calls... 

And that leads us back to here again. As you can see, it was basically a normal week in the Maritimes. 

I really hope everyone is doing well, I love getting updates from people! I love you all, stay amazing!

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple leaf, Sorry about that, eh?

Elder Nielsen

It's a boy.......

Hello!

The Ladies we sing to at the care center.

What a week. This week has been so crazy that I don't even know if I'm going to be able to do it justice in an email.... So many crazy things are going on! (Transfer results at the end of the letter)

Monday: Nothing all together too crazy on Monday. We went bowling! That was fun. In Canada they don't bowl with full sized bowling balls, they use really little ones, and it makes it really hard to actually get any pins knocked down, but it was still a lot of fun. I wish I had pictures from bowling, but both of us left our cameras in the car... I know, I 'm a bad missionary :P

Tuesday: It was the beginning of the end. We used up almost all of our Kilometers on Tuesday, running from place to place. Everything was going great until a member asked us to go home teaching with them, which we love to do, so we said yes. That took us all across the area in one day... We tried to get it figured out without using too many K's, but that just didn't happen. But Singing at the Senior's Home was really fun, and getting to go home teaching was great! No complaints!

Wednesday: We completely ran out of Kilometers. We had just enough to get halfway to the church and back home, so when we hit the halfway point, like the good little missionaries that we are, we pulled the car over and walked for the rest of the day. And let me tell you, it was a long, LONG day! We ended up doing a lot of knocking, and even more walking. It was great!

Thursday: Completely on foot. Actually we took the bus to the church in the morning for District Meeting, but after that we were completely on foot. We walked and knocked and walked some more. Not a single potential investigator.... It was a hard day.

Friday: Halloween! We bused to the church early in the morning to try and go to Seminary, but it turned out that they don't have Seminary on Fridays, so we ended up sleeping in the mothers lounge for about an hour until we actually had to start doing studies.5:00 it was time to be locked in our apartment for the rest of the night. We ended up dressing up the Giant teddy bear that we have for Halloween, and eating food. It was a pretty good night :D
After our studies, we had a weekly planning session, and that was just peachy. And then we knocked, who knew that knocking on Halloween wasn't a good idea? Most people thought we were Trick-or-treaters, and then told us to go away when they found out we weren't.. We didn't get a single piece of Halloween candy from knocking. We had a supper appointment with a great member family, and at

Saturday: We got all of our Kilometers back because it was the beginning of the month! It's a great feeling to have Kilometers. One of our investigators wife had surgery on her head, so we baked them cookies and went out to see them. Turns out the wife has Celiac Disease and the cookies would have killed her... Who knew? But they were still thankful for them, and we got another appointment set up, so they must not have been too angry. Saturday night was very hard. We found out that our investigator who was on date to be baptized passed away on October 25.... It has been very hard to take that... He was a good friend of ours, and it was really hard to see him go... Not an easy thing, but we have to keep working.

Sunday: We got Transfer letters Sunday Morning... Elder B is moving to Montigue, PEI, and I am going to be staying in Sacville... I am also going to be finishing the training of one of the new missionaries who came out last transfer, I'm a step-dad! Later in the evening we had a lesson with an investigator over Facebook, and that was fun.. We don't know how much longer he is actually going to be an investigator, he doesn't want to progress...(He has been an investigator for 30 years, and was a referral from the sisters in one of the other areas.. we had to give him a chance...) We went to follow up on a referral from the sisters in our area, and it turns out the person doesn't live there... They met him working outside the house, and talked to him for a while, and when we went back, nobody had ever met the guy before... It was pretty strange. We got to go to the Mission home and watch the CES broadcast with all of the other missionaries serving in the Metro... My new companion was there, and it was a really awkward situation.. haha! 

And that brings us back to today... I guess I should probably let you know that it started snowing today... It just goes downhill from here... the weather is going to start getting really awful anytime now... I'm just glad I'm not in Newfoundland or on Prince Edward Island for the winter, that would just be miserable!

I hope everyone is having a great week! I love all of you!

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple leaf, Sorry about that, eh?

Elder Nielsen

 

(I'm Really Bad at Making up Titles....​)

Hello again! 

Another week is already over... That's crazy sauce. And it's already the end of my 2nd transfer... and my 3 month mark is on Thursday... Time is an insane concept.

Well, lets see if I can't make up a few stories for you this week :P

Monday: Almost your average P-Day, but there was a twist. We spent the day doing the normal things, shopping and whatnot, and then we went to go knocking a little bit before Family Home Evening. We picked street fairly close to the church so we would have time to get back in time to do the lesson. Big mistake. It only took us about three houses to realize that we were knocking in the Sackville Red Light district... It's okay, only one house actually invited us in, and we were smart enough to say no. But other than that, it was your average day!

Tuesday: Tuesday was incredibly long. We went over to help a less-active member move because his mom is sick and either she had to move into his little apartment, or they had to go to her house. Well, we showed up and he said "great, you're here! I'll start packing". What was supposed to be an hour move ended up taking almost 5 hours... We didn't get a lot else done that night. We did go over to the Ward Mission Leaders house for supper, and got to talk about the ward mission plan a little bit. We got almost no finding hours in, and talked to almost no body... oops

Wednesday: District meeting in Bridgewater. That drive is forever long... Actually it's only like an hour, but it feels like forever! It was a really great district meeting though, so it was worth the million hour drive. After driving back, we decided to go meet with a less-active lady. She is single, so we have to meet outside, and it was pouring rain... It was an adventure with umbrellas! We went knocking after, and let me tell you, and I'm pretty sure I have said it before, people take no mercy on you when you are crazy enough to be knocking out in the rain. It's fun to be out in the rain though, so we just trot along our merry way. We went back to the church later that night to teach our Family History class, and we only had one person show up, so I wen't in the corner and worked on some records that needed updating while the other missionaries taught the class, I'm a huge help :P

Thursday: We spent all day on Thursday calling and visiting other churches for an interfaith event that the ward is trying to put together... Did you know that a lot of other churches are not so friendly when two Mormon missionaries walk through their front doors? It was really weird walking into other people churches... Like, uber weird.... but we did it, and got a couple of people interested. We even went over to Kingdom Hall, and they were super nice to us! That was a super adventure!

Friday: Friday was super crazy, and a little stressful. We started out with weekly planning, and then went out knocking. While out knocking, all of the people we had lessons with called and changed the time of their lesson, so we had to do some emergency scheduling changes. But, everything worked out, and we ended up picking up a new investigator, so it was a very great day!

Saturday: We spent the whole day out in Windsor. Windsor is another place that is like a million hours away... It's actually only a half hour away... But I really hate driving now... and I'm not even aloud to drive, so I hate being in the car for very long. But, our time in Windsor paid off and we picked up a new investigator!  It has been a good week for new investigators! Later that night was Stake Conference, and that was great!

Sunday: We had lots of lessons planned for Sunday, and every one of them fell through, all of them for super crazy reason... I don't know what happened, but everyone had a very crazy day. One of our investigators got head lice, and another one of them fell off the face of the earth... We had supper at Bishops house, and that was so fun! He has a great family. We spent the rest of the night trying to get back in touch with the investigator that disappeared... Strage, strange day...

And that leads us back to today! The fun never stops here in Sackville!

I hope that everyone is having a fantastic week! I love all of you!

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple leaf, Sorry about that, eh?

Elder Nielsen

Knocking out in a hurricane - and other brave missionary stories...

How beautiful are the 'shoes' of him that bringeth good tidings;that publisheth peace;
Missionary shoes at the mission home....

Hello!

 

Wow... This week went by crazy quick. I know I say that every week, but this one was super fast... Much faster than normal. I honestly cant believe that October is almost over! What even is this witchcraft?

 

I didn't have too many crazy experiences this week, but I might be able to dig up one or two if I think really, really hard... Lets give it a go, shall we?

 

Monday: Basically your average P-day.... Except it was Thanksgiving, so we got fed tons of food... Nobody feeds the missionaries until its a Holiday, then everyone wants to shove food down our gullets! That's a lie, we have some great families in the ward who feed us, don't worry, I'm not starving (But I have lost 20 lbs, so that's cool :P). We aren't supposed to go knocking on Holidays, so we didn't actually get to do a lot of finding... We did go over to a less-active members home and give his non-member mother a blessing. That was really cool, she probably has the most faith of any person I have ever met... With a little TLC, she would totally join the church. 

Tuesday: We had a lot of plans for Tuesday, but they all kind of got thrown out the window... Things come up a lot, and we don't have time to get around to everything. We ended up having a 2 1/2 hour meeting with a less-active member (shh, don't tell President), and got down to a lot of her deep issues. It was a really great meeting, and you could feel the spirit so strong. It was great. Tuesday night we went down the the Seniors Home and sang for them. It was a really little turn out compared to normal, but it was fun! The people in the home really love it when we come over, and they are so funny! It is always a highlight of my week when we go down there!

 

Wednesday: We had district meeting in the morning, so that was fun as always. They had it in Sackville this time, so we didn't have to make the big trip down to Bridgewater, which is really great because we are running really low on Kilometers... oops... We brought the Zone Leaders home with us on visits, and got to spend the day working with them. That was good. It is always interesting to work with other missionaries. Later on in the evening, we went to visit one of our investigators, and ended up picking up his wife as a new investigator! (We would have picked up his brother too, but he was slightly intoxicated through the meeting, and we didn't think it would be right to do that... If he is sober next time, we will totally pick him up!) Other than that, it was a day of a lot of walking, and a lot of talking to people. Just the common missionary thing. Oh! And after our family history class, we were leaving the church, and a little girl (probably about 10 years old) jumped out of the chapel and screamed and I got so scared and fell on the ground and started laugh/crying... It was pretty impressive.. I'm a big, brave missionary, I promise!

 

Thursday: We didn't do anything too exciting on Thursday... We did a lot of knocking, and visited our new investigators, but nothing new there... Lots and lots of walking.... Sorry, nothing else to update you on for Thursday...

 

Friday: Friday was a fun day. We did all of our normal weekly planning and whatnot, but then it got really crazy. A hurricane hit Newfoundland Friday morning, so we got the tail end of it. Lots of crazy wind and rain. But nothing can stop a missionary from going out and working, so we went knocking out in a hurricane. Just so you know, people have no sympathy for you if you are crazy enough to go out contacting in the rain. They just tell you to go and get in your car where it is dry... But it was still fun! 

 

Saturday: Saturday, all of the craziness from the hurricane was over by early in the morning, so we woke up to a nice, sunshiney day! We got to to meet with our favorite Eternal Investigator, and, wait for it...... WE PUT HIM ON DATE! After about 9 years of meeting with the missionaries (He met the missionaries 15 years ago, and has been meeting with them on/off for a total of 9 years) he is finally going to be baptized on December 17! Patience really does pay off! We did a lot of knocking on Saturday. We knocked a street where we picked up four potential investigators, and got three referrals! Lots of people wanted to hear the gospel on that street! (bare in mind that that was the same street that we had 4 houses in a row scream at us and slam the door... People in the maritime know some very colorful language! I was pretty impressed :P) It was a pretty great day!

Sunday: We had a lot of plans for Sunday too, but they got interrupted by things. Church was fun. We had a Recent Convert give a talk in sacrament meeting, and it was so good! I was so happy for her. After church we had ward choir, and that was uber fun! The lady who directs the choir reminds me so much of Annie Kentros... It is actually really scary how similar they are... I wonder if they are related, she is from The States... We got to meet with our new On Date again. We took bishop over for this meeting, and that was really good. Sunday night there was a baptism for a little girl in the ward, and Elder B was speaking at it, so we spent the rest of the evening writing a talk and going to a baptism. It was a pretty great day.

 

And that leads us back to here! It's pretty incredible how fast we get back to another Monday! 

 

I hope everyone is having a fantastic week! 

 

Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of god, and that means you!!!!

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple leaf, Sorry about that, eh?

Elder Nielsen

Happy Thanksgiving

Got the coat mom sent - and it FITS!

 

Hello!

Wow... This week really seemed to just fly past. I don't know where the time even goes! I really hope I have something interesting for you this time! I never think I do, but then I actually get writing, and sometimes I get lucky and remember things... Here's hoping!

Spider Picture - as promised

Monday:  It was a pretty average P-day. We ate a pizza, as is P-day tradition, and we spent most of the day cleaning and sleeping in the apartment. We are really exciting :P We didn't end up having to much more going on that night, we had Family Home Evening and only one person actually showed up, so we had fun with them and everyone else just missed out. After FHE we went out knocking, and ended up running into a less-active member by accident. He lied to us and told us that he had never met missionaries before and whatnot... We didn't find out that he was a member until we got back to the apartment and looked in our Area Book... Talk about awkward.

 

Autumn Colors

Tuesday: We ended up doing a lot of finding time, but didn't actually talk to a lot of people. We went walking in the Park Tuesday morning, but the only people that we found there were a bunch of teenagers skipping class and smoking weed.... None of them wanted to hear about the gospel, they just wanted to be stupid and yell profanities at us as we walked past... I do have to give them points for creativity though, they came up with some combinations of words that I never could have possibly thought of. Later in the evening we got to meet with my favorite less-active member, that's always great! and then on to some knocking! We didn't get to talk to a lot of people, and the less active members we tried to see avoided us, so that was a bummer. We had to go back the the apartment early because Elder Blum got a major headache, so he fell asleep early, and I did paper work for the rest of the night, it was pretty great.

Colored leaves seen while walking

Wednesday: We had District Meeting down in Bridgewater on Wednesday, so that was a fun drive. The meeting was fun as always, and afterwards we ended up doing an overnight exchange. I left Elder Blum in Bridgewater and the District Leader came back to Sackville with me. I didn't have anything to exciting planned, so I just took him knocking, and we didn't a bit of contacting that way. Later that evening, all of the less-active members that we had planned to see cancelled on us, and it was too dark to go out knocking, so we went back to the apartment and did 12 week training. Super fun stuff :P

Thursday: We had a pretty good morning on Thursday. We got in to see a less-active member that we had never met with before... He was a really nice guy, and loves the church, he just isn't interested in coming back (really crazy family reasons). We did a little 12 week training, and then went to see our Recent Convert. She is fantastic, I love going to see here every week. She is the one who was baptized the day before I got into Sackville. She is so great! After her, we went down to Hubbards and did a companion switch-back. It's good to have Blum back. We went and taught our Family History class, and two people actually showed up! And there was an extremely huge spider hanging out in the church (a picture will be provided).  We finished out the night by stopping by a members home and having a nice visit. Great day

Friday: Friday was pretty interesting. We ended up meeting with a few less-active members, and some of those meetings really make me realize how well I have it. There are some people who have really hard lives... After that we did a lot of knocking, and actually picked up a new investigator... Only issues is he doesn't know he is an investigator... He only really counts as a new investigator because our meeting with him fit all of the criteria (gospel discussion, prayer, return appointment). We don't know how to tell him that he officially investigating the LDS church :P It was a pretty good day, as it always is when you actually find someone who will listen to you!

Saturday: I was pretty sure it was going to be a super-flood and we were going to have another Noah incident. It rained all day! But we didn't let that stop us, we went out and worked anyways. We went and did service at a members house, helping him clean up some trees that he had to cut down. Who know that two trees could produce such a ridiculous amount of wood? Later we went out knocking in the rain. No raincoats, just our suits. It was pretty fantastic. There was one lady who opened her door and she said, and I kid you not. "What are you doing out in the rain? It is a sin for you to be knocking out in the rain....I'M NOT LETTING YOU IN! Go warm up in your car!" It was so funny we almost died of laughter! Apparently people don't feel sympathy for you when it's wet out... 

Big smiles before heading to 2nd Thanksgiving Dinner

Sunday: Fast Sunday... A day of fast has never felt so slow before! Time seriously crawled yesterday. We had fast and testimony meeting, and there were only a few awkward testimonies, not as bad as back home. We started ward choir, and that is something that we get to do because it seriously needs help! I love having a chance to sing. We got to have supper with a great family, I love them! They have 5 little boys, and there is just so much energy in the home! It's so great! Then to top of the night we got to meet with my favorite Eternal Investigator. Good guy, I just really wish he would get baptized already!  

And that leads us back to today, Canadian Thanksgiving! People eat so much food here, I feel like I'm about to explode! And I still have one more Turkey dinner to go! I'm going to be praying really hard to make it through this supper without throwing up! 

I hope everyone is doing well, I don't think I'm going to have a lot of time to do individual emails today, so I hope you all have a fantastic week! I was so happy to get the Shakespeare scores from everyone! I'm sad I couldn't be there! 

I love ya'll so much! Have a great week!

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, Maple leaf, sorry about that, eh?

Elder Nielse