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Monday, October 27, 2014

(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

Monday, October 20, 2014

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

Monday, October 13, 2014

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

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Pink cream soda is a normal thing

Hola! 

Just kidding, I'm not the Spanish missionary. Just the crazy Canadian one :D Another week has come and gone. Sometimes it's crazy how time moves around here. There are weeks that feel like they last for eternity, and then there are weeks that feel like they went by far too quickly. It was a quick one.

I don't think anything too crazy happened this week, so I'll do my very best to make up something for you! Just kidding, I'm not going to do that, that would be not so fun.

Monday: Another average P-Day. We didn't do anything too exciting, except the laundry, that was pretty crazy, ya know? After our P-day was over, we went had had Family Home Evening with the Elders Quarem Presidents family. That was so fun. They have a bunch of little kids, and they all have so much energy! I don't think the parents were having fun, but I sure was!

Tuesday: We tried to do some bus contacting on Tuesday morning, but ended up getting on the wrong bus, and it was just us on there. We got dropped off at a grocery store, and tried to do some parking lot contacting, but got yelled at because it was privately owned, and there was no soliciting in the area.... We only ended up talking to like 5 people in that time we were out... It was pretty exciting.  Later in the day we went over to a less active members house and started laying down tile for him. Basically I'm just going to be a flooring expert by the time I get home. Elder B got sick this week, so we didn't end up getting to go to the Seniors Home, we though it would be best not to get all of the seniors sick. I just couldn't have the guilt of dead old people on my head. So we knocked a lot... Really exciting stuff.

Wednesday: Zone Training. Tuesday night at about 8:30 we were asked if we could do a musical number at Zone Training the next day. They wanted us to sing Brightly Beams Our Fathers Mercy, A Capella, with 2 other Elders that we had never met or sang with before. So obviously we said yes, and practiced like crazy in the half hour they gave us before training started. It went well, and we all sang like the little angles that we are. We went on exchanges for the night, so Elder B went with the district leader to Bridgewater, and I tool his companion home with me (Actually he took me back home, because I'm not aloud to drive mission vehicles... Lousy driving record....) We worked together through the night, and he got to experience some of the crazy life here in Sackville. We got to meet with T, and she is doing really well... Only problem is that she is getting married and moving just outside of our area... We are going to have to transition her over to the Wolfville sisters... It's kind of a bummer.

Thursday: I got to introduce Elder C to some of the less active members, and found out that there are a couple of people we teach that you really shouldn't take new people to... Lesson received loud and clear. I got Elder Blum back at about 5:00 and we went back to Sackville to teach our Family History class, which, big surprise here, nobody showed up to... again... But that's okay, it gave us time to do out and dome some work.

Friday: We did a lot of planning and door knocking. We got all of our weekly planning and correlation meetings with the sisters done by 3:00 and we ended up spending the rest of the night knocking. We found out that another one of our investigators is moving, but he is staying in our area. He just doesn't want us trying to contact him until he is done, so we cant talk to him for the next couple of week... I'm afraid we are going to lose him.....

Saturday: Conference was great, it just doesn't leave a lot of time for working... We got to watch it projected at the church, and almost nobody showed up to the first two sessions... I'm assuming everyone was watching from home, but they just weren't there. There was an Elders social before the Priesthood session, and they offered free food, so we had a pretty good gathering for that. By the way, cream soda in Canada is pink... I didn't know that... Pink cream soda is a normal thing around here... I'm still blown away by that.

Sunday: Another great day of Conference. We  were supposed to have an investigator come to the first afternoon session (around here the sessions are 1:00-3:00 and 5:00-7:00 with the priesthood session at 9:00-11:00), but she didn't show up, so we had a nice talk with a recent convert. She is a fantastic lady! I really enjoy talking to her.  There was a nice potluck dinner between sessions, and then President gave us a call and invited us to the Mission home for the final session of Conference. And of course you cant have a giant missionary gathering without serving supper, so there was another meal served there... I'm surprised that I didn't explode. Going back into the apartment last night, I fell down the stairs and jacked up my back and my hip. But I don't think its too bad, I can still walk and move, so we aren't going to get it checked out. I'll survive :D

And that was my week. Not so much going on in the Sackville area. I'm trying to keep it exciting for the spectators at home, but I'm not doing so grand of a job at that. 

I hope everyone is having a fantastic week. I love you all so much!

Don't do drugs, crack is whack, stay in school, only you can prevent forest fires

Hockey hockey, Moose moose, maple leaf, Sorry about that, Eh
Elder Nielsen

PS: The leaves just turned red, and there is Red Maple leafs EVERYWHERE!!!! It is so cool! I promise to send a picture next time. I'm a bad missionary and forget my camera a lot...

PSS: We are only aloud to listen to MOTAB music, and we only have 1 CD that we are borrowing from the Sister Missionaries... I'm going crazy.... 

PSSS: I love your faces!