I went swimming in the river today! #rebel

 

Mom asked for selfies of me not puffing up my cheeks, so I took more with me puffing up my cheeks!

Eh there!
I can not believe that another Transfer has come and gone. 4 down only 12 more to go! I don't think anything overly crazy happened this week, but then again, I don't think anything can top the crazy of last week. So I will see what I can remember from the week.

Monday: A pretty average P-day. Both my companion and I are poor again, so we didn't really go shopping (but that is okay, we had plenty of Ravioli and Popcorn to hold us over for a while :D) We had a supper appointment with the Stake President. He is such a great guy! I really enjoyed going over there. We were supposed to have an appointment with a potential that we found in the Area Book, but we ended up having to cancel because she went on vacation to Cape Breton. So really we ended up having to knock and do area book for the rest of the night. Normal missionary things :D



Mom sent me new sweaters - turns out I look good in purple!



Tuesday: Not a whole lot happened on Tuesday... We did a lot of knocking, and tried to get in contact with some Former Investigators (to no avail). We had a good correlation with the Sisters in the area, and finished the night by going home teaching with one of the Mission Presidency. That is about it for Tuesday.

Wednesday: We have so many meetings on Wednesdays. We had district meeting in Bridgewater this week, our last one as a complete district :( After a couple of hours of finding and what-not, we ended the day with Bishops Correlation, Ward Missionary Correlation, and Ward Council. Lots of meetings. By the end of the night, you never want to sit though another meeting ever again!

Thursday: We had another Correlation meeting first thing in the morning, and then we spent the rest of the day out in Lockeport (about 45 minutes past Liverpool). It was such a ridiculously long drive (that totally ate up our Kilometres...) but in the end it was worth it when we picked up an investigator! He has been going out to church with a friend in Cole Harbor (like 5 hours from his house) and just loves the LDS church, which says a lot because he was a Pentecostal minister. I'm really excited to start working with him! It's going to be great!

Friday: Weekly planning. During planning on Thursday, we decided not to use the car at all on Friday because we are completly dead on K's  so we spent the whole day walking from place to place, and street to street, almost like we are real missionaries :P It was pretty great. It gave a lot more time to actually talk to people, and not be sitting in the car for hours, it is something I am going to be doing a lot more now! We had a games night at the church and had a pretty good turn out. Lot's of members and non-members. It was a pretty exciting thing!

Saturday: Because it worked so well on Friday we decided to go out walking again on Saturday. We found some really interesting walking places where people take their dogs, so we got in some good contacts. We were supposed to go Home Teaching with a member of the ward, but the appointment fell though, so we ended up just doing the normal missionary thing for the rest of the night, nothing too new.

Sunday: Transfer Letters! I am going to be staying here in Bridgewater, but I am getting a new companion. It's going to be quite an interesting Transfer. We did a ton of member visits and then went to Supper with the Bishop. Great family! To finish off the night, we had a skype call with the Zone Leaders. Super fun stuff.


 I went swimming in the river today... #rebel

Really that is all that has happened this week. Nothing too exciting. Just the usual.

I hope everyone is having a fantastic week! You are all children of god and I love you! (and so does he)

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

Elder Nielsen

Ugly ties for days!

 

 

I bought some art to lighten up our apartment

It was a package deal.
 

 

I saw a UFO right up close

EH! Hello!

Here we are again! I am so happy for it to be a Monday again! It was a long week!  It amazes me how short some weeks feel and how long others feel... It's crazy how it works... But somehow it does... Alright, that is enough rambling from me, let me see if I can think up any good stories for you....

Monday: It was basically your average P-day. We got pulled away from writing a little bit early because we had to go help one of the Mission Presidency drive some trucks to the dealership to be sold. There is a good chance that we are going to be getting a new car soon, so that would be pretty cool. Other than that, not a ton happened. We did all the normal shopping and what not, and then went out and did some work. It was pretty great!

Tuesday: We spent a good little chunk of time shovelling snow on Tuesday. Who knew that that was such hard work :P. There are lots of old people, and all of them need the snow cleared one way or another, so we are just the missionaries for the job! Later on in the afternoon, we went out to Mahone Bay to help the sisters with a Hot Chocolate stand. It didn't work out so well. We had great signs, and all, but we didn't realise until we were about half way done that we had set up shop next to a Tim Hortons... We lose compared to Tim's. But it was fun, and we got to talk to a couple of fun people in our Grungy little parking lot :P We spent the rest of the night our Home Teaching with the Ward Mission Leader, so it was a pretty full day.

Wednesday:  District meeting in Sackville. I forget how long of a drive it is between Bridgewater and Sackville until I'm driving it more than once a week. IT'S SO LONG! But District meeting was great, so that is really all that matters. The rest of the night was spent in meetings, so that's no fun... But we got what we needed accomplished, so that's good.

Thursday: Another long day of shovelling. We help a couple of the elderly members of the ward with their drives, and even got a Dinner appointment out of it. I am looking at my plans, and I have what we did written down, but for the life of me, I can't tell you what happened during that time... So I'm guessing it was a pretty great day with lots and lots of adventures ;D

Friday: We had an extended exchange with the Zone Leaders that started on Friday. It was a pretty great day. We did weekly planning, and went to help shovel someone out. The best part of the day was going to see one of the less-active members... He is crazy. He told us a big long story about a whole bunch of stuff, but I have a quote for you that will really illustrate exactly how nuts he was. This is what he told us when we asked him how he came to know the church was true: "I saw a UFO right up close, and it shot out a particle beam that split a hard-wood tree right in half. And that is when I knew the Book of Mormon was true. Because it was prophesy, and the Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of Prophesy." If that doesn't scream crazy, I don't know what does!

Saturday: Elder D. and I spent the whole day out in Liverpool. We visited a whole slew of less-active members, and contacted a bunch of Formers and potentials from out there. It was a pretty productive day. We even had a lunch appointment AND a supper appointment out there, that is a real rarity! We finished out the day by knocking with the sisters, and making a lot of phone calls out of the Area Book.

Sunday: We spent almost all day in meetings and at church. We had a supper appointment with a really great member, and got to do a little bit of knocking before we had to drive out to Sackville to get Elder G. (There is a whole long story about why he was in Sackville when he was on exchanges in Kentville... It's a long confusing story...) at the end of the night I had the District Leader Skype call, and then it was time to go home.

So that was all that happened this week. Pretty boring, I know. I hope everyone is doing great!

I love you all so much, Have a fantastic week!

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

Elder Nielsen

I gave myself a haircut!

 

I cut my own hair today

 

Eh there!

What a week here in good ol' Bridgewater, Nova Scotia! I don't even know where to start for this week...... It's been an interesting one..... Let's see what I've done....

Monday: It was a pretty crazy P-day... We went to a funeral for one of the founding members of the Bridgewater ward because I was asked to sing. I ended up singing "Oh My Father", and it went really well. (further details mom asked: The ex-wife of the guy called him and said they had heard him sing at the Christmas Concert and would he please sing at her son's dad's funeral?  He said yes) The funeral kinda destroyed all of our shopping time, so it all got pushed back, and we almost didn't have time to get food (So I was very grateful when we got a package with food in it from Mum :D) Other than that, it was a pretty normal P-day. Not too many adventures. We were supposed to have a lesson with an investigator, but it ended up falling though. Pretty disappointing.

Tuesday: It was a pretty strange day. We had planned on going out of town to one of the outlying areas to do some contacting, but we ended up having to stay in Bridgewater for most of the morning because we had a Skype call with President at 1:00. We discussed getting more Kilometres for our vehicles so that we can travel out of town more often, and he agreed. We are all over the place now! We went out to Mahone Bay. It was freezing! The wind off the ocean when It was already -14C made it so awful! I wanted to cry. But we survived, and even got to talk to a couple of people, so it all worked out in the end. We were supposed to go over to a members home for supper, but they had a change of plans, and brought us supper to the church. We ate super fast, and then they had to leave. To finish out the night, we took our vehicle report to the member of the Mission Presidency who lives here in Bridgewater, and ended up staying for an hour to help him finish a puzzle... Whoops... But it was okay because he is in the Mission Presidency, right?


Look! A little Pie I can hold! (Family Joke)

Wednesday: District meeting in Sackville. It went very well. I really enjoyed it. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. We went contacting in Chester, and then spent the rest of the night in meetings with the Bishop, the Ward Mission Leader, and then Ward Council. Lots of meetings.

So Much Snow

Thursday: We spent most of the day out in Liverpool. We did a ton of contacting, and tried to get in to see some Less Active members, but none were around. Later a member took us from Liverpool out to Lockport where we visited a less active member, and tried to get in to see a referral that we received out there. No luck. He has been attending church with a friend out in Cole Harbour, but any time we try to contact him, we have no luck. It'll happen. On the way home from Liver pool, I saw the coldest temperatures of my mission so far. -28C. It was freaking cold! It has warmed up a ton since then, so I'm not freezing yet!

Friday: We had a really long weekly planning session on Friday. Companionship inventories man... they are crazy. After we decided to go out to Lunnenburg and Mahone bay to do some contacting. It was a pretty great day. We did a lot of knocking, and got to do at least a little bit of work out there. Later in the evening we had games night at the church. It was great! We only had a couple of people come, but it was just the right combination of people to make it a blast!

Saturday: FANTASTIC DAY! We knocked with the sisters in the morning, and did all of the little things that needed to get done around Bridgewater, and then finally got to go out to Sackville! It was so awesome! Before the baptism we had Seafood Chowder, and it was InCrEdiBlE!!!! I loved it so much! The baptism was so amazing! I was so happy to see Emile all dressed in white! It was all together a fantastic day! 

Sunday: Sunday was just crazy... I can leave it at that... There wasn't anything specific that we did, it was just crazy...

So that is where we are at now. Back to Monday. We haven't done too much today. I gave myself a haircut, so I'm hoping I don't look like an idiot right now... But hey, if I do, I don't even care! 

I hope you are all having an amazing week! I love you all so much! Thank you for all the love and support. And Letters.... and packages.... *cough cough*.... Just kidding! I love you all, have a great week!

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

Elder Nielsen

I'm singing at a funeral today, so that is weird...

HAPPY NEW YEARS!

 

Chillin with a mailbox we found

That is a little more like the Canada I was expecting!

Well look that, it is already 2015! How crazy is that?!? The year changes, but life in the mission keeps going. It's crazy how that works. So... What did I do this week? I don't know... Good thing I keep my brain in my pocket, or I would never be able to remember anything that happened here!

Monday: Pday! I for the life of me can't remember if we actually went and did anything on Pday or not... I know we didn't shop, it was before the beginning of the month, so we were still poor. But at the end of the night we went over to a members home for supper. LOBSTER! I love being in the maritimes because lobster and seafood are everywhere! I LOVE IT! Other than that, I think it was a pretty quite evening.

Ice Everywhere - even the ocean

Tuesday: We were out in Liverpool for most of the day. We  got to visit some former investigators. The sad news is they are all still former investigators. But, it was nice to go out to a different area for a little while. We had to go back to Bridgewater a little earlier than we had planned, we had a last minute leadership Skype call, so we were in a pinch to get back. But, we made it home safely and got there in time for the call, no problems. The rest of our day was a little messed up schedule wise, but we found other places to work and other things to do. Not to bad of a day.

Wednesday: New Years Eve! We had our district meeting which was fun as always. After the meeting we went on exchanges with one of the zone leaders and Elder Hansen (It's a long story why they are together now...) It was pretty exciting! I missed that kid! We had a lesson planned for that day, but it ended up falling through, so nothing to report there. We had to be back in our house by 5:00 (problems with living in the drinking capital of Canada) so we lit a nice fire in the fireplace and had a nice evening.

We are pretty sure we have a creeper living in our apartment when we aren't there. This mug wasn't on my desk when I left. So I left a nice note for whoever it belongs to.

Sunday Selfie...(his favorite selfie face)

Thursday: HAPPY NEW YEAR! The first day of the year was set apart for deep cleaning our apartments. I will attest to you that I smelled like Bleach the rest of the day. It was pretty awful. But now the house it sparkling clean,and we have nothing to worry about there. I finally got to meet one of our investigators who has been out of town for a while. Turns out he is going to be moving to Dartmouth for the next 6 weeks, so we are going to have to pass him off to the Dartmouth elders for a little while. But that is okay, because he is solid!

Sorry, It looks like you are only getting up until Thursday. The library that I am emailing from has the worst Internet connection on planet earth, and it doesn't want to type things out for me... I love you all... I'm singing at a funeral today, so that is weird... But I think that is the only exciting thing I'm doing today... I will let you know.

I hope you all have a great week!

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

Hanging out with some friends in Mahone Bay

Gotta give everyone the chance to hear the gospel

You know it's cold if I'm willing to wear a took!

A Whale!