Egg Roulette & Dramamine Videos

Well, I have to apologize, I forgot my coat in Charlottetown, and it has my camera in it, so I don't have any pictures to send to you this week... That's pretty lame...

But other than that, HELLO!

It has been an interesting week here in Summerside. Things are never boring, I can tell you that. It's always something new. 

Monday: It was a pretty average P-day. Lot's of snow shoveling. And by lots of snow shoveling, I mean LOTS OF SNOW SHOVELING. We really didn't get a P-day because we spent it shoveling. Too. Much. Snow. (But on the bright side, it is starting to warm up, and instead of snowing, it is raining. So the snowbanks are rapidly disappearing!) But other than that, average P-day.

Tuesday: We had to move District Meeting to Tuesday this week because of the Prep that had to be done for the Funeral on Wednesday. So district meeting was great. I gave a training on Family History... Basically I know nothing about Family History, so it was a gongshow.... But yeah... It worked out okay. We had a lot of lessons set up, but, surprise! They all fell through. So we did a lot of knocking, and finding, and contacting referrals. And then went to the Wake at 8:00. We finished out our night by shoveling out the Church parking lot, and starting on the wheelchair ramp.

Wednesday: We got up early, and instead of studies in the morning, we went to the church and finished shoveling everything out. We finished just in time to bake our Funeral Potatoes (That we made all by ourselves) and get over to the Funeral Home. I sang "How Great Thou Art"... It was quite the performance... The electric keyboard that they had didn't have a lot of keys, and it wouldn't transpose very far down, so I ended up singing super high, like falsetto, through the whole song... It was pretty impressive if I do say so my self (Tara Starkey and DeeAnn Costello aint got nothing on my soprano singing!) It was a really nice service. It was the first non-LDS funeral I have ever been too... It was kinda iteresting! After the funeral, there was an open house at the church, where we got to serve food, and mingle with the family. It was pretty nice. The rest of the day was pretty normal. We had a lot of appointments fall though again... And then we went shopping to by supplies for the Young Mens Activity this coming week.

Thursday: Lot of appointments fell though again... Not so much fun. Really the only thing that worked out for us was Young Mens. We got a call not to far before and they told us that it was combined young mens young womens, so we weren't in charge of the activity, and it will be put off until next week. No worries. But for combined, we played Egg Roulette, with Hard boiled and raw eggs. They asked a bunch of really hard church trivia, and then if you got it wrong, you got an egg smashed on your head, and if you got it right, you got to smash an egg on some one else. It was pretty fun. I made it out clean! Haha.

Friday: Weekly Planning. That is always fun. After planning, we went and sang for an old lady in a seniors home. She is so sweet, I love going over there. We had our Skype interviews with President Leavitt. Those are always fun! Because we were the last interviews of the transfer, he showed us a youtube video about Dramamine. It was pretty funny! He is such a cool president! 

Saturday: Not a lot for Saturday... We did a lot of knocking to try and make up for some lost hours because of the Funeral... No real results.... Yeah.. That's about it for Saturday...

Sunday: It was a pretty great Sunday. Fast and Testimony meeting. Those are always fun! And then I taught my first Young Mens lesson, the young men are too funny! (One of them just got his mission call, Belgium, Netherlands!) After church we took the Sacrament to that same old lady in the Seniors Home. She loves it when we visit. We had supper at the Branch Presidents home. They are so funny, and that man knows how to cook a feaste! It was crazy amounts of food! To finish the night off, we went to a United Pentecostal church.... It was... Interesting.... Yeah, interesting is the right word.

That's about it... That is were we are at for this week. We haven't done anything yet for P-day, because we are both broke for the month! Oops... But, a new month starts this week, and we only have to wain until next monday before we don't have to starve any more :P

I hope you are all having a fantastic week! I love you all!

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

Elder Nielsen

The snow here is super duper crazy!

Me standing in front of a mountain of snow! It's actually like 13-14 feet, it's just taken at a really weird angle...

OH man, sounds like you guys had an exciting week! It's been pretty crazy here. Tons of snow and what not... I don't have a lot of time to write, I'm sorry....  I only have like 8 more minutes, and I haven't written anything... But yeah, Life is great! The snow here is super duper crazy! It just keeps coming and coming and coming. We had a blizzard yesterday, and we are supposed to get another one on thursday. It never ends! It doesn't ever get too cold, just like -13c and then the windchill dips it down to like -27c, so that's a wee bit cold... I looked up that place, New London is just on the edge, it's in Queen County, which means it falls under the Charlottetown Sisters area... That's a bummer.... Yeah, the Confederation bridge is the one I was talking about. Its like 13 km or 8 Miles long. It's pretty awesome. I've never gone across it during the day. I've only seen it at night. It costs 45.00 to cross, so when we have to go on and off the island, it's kind of a big deal. We leave about every 2 weeks for a leadership meeting that I have to go too in Truro, and it's pretty intense knowing how much we are paying to get across (but we just have a MACKpass, so I don't have to actually pay cash :P) I can't believe that everyone is already coming home! That's nuts! I am only at my 8 month mark (Next Monday :0), so I'm still pretty young!

Also - A member of the Branch passed away, and they wanted on of the missionaries who had served here in the past to sing at her funeral. That couldn't be arranged, so I will be singing at ANOTHER funeral on Wednesday.. I'm becoming a professional!

I love you, and hope everything is going well! Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Nielsen

The wall of snow we had to get a path through at the church.

This is Randy - My Snow Blower friend

Snow Blowing Selfie

I am Victor over the snow!

Elder Balle shoveling snow off the roof.

Thank goodness for Spacebags!

Hey there!

I don't have a ton of time this week, so my letter is going to be pretty brief!

Monday: Regular Pday stuff. I didn't go shopping because I didn't need to stock the apartment this week :P So yeah, that's about it...

Tuesday: We worked around Bridgewater. I finally started packing. Thank goodness for Spacebags! I would never have gotten my suitcases all the way packed again if It weren't for those! I am keeping them forever and ever amen. That's about it for Tuesday, lots of packing.

 

Wednesday: We got a call from our investigator in Lockeport asking us to come out for lunch, so we dropped everything and went out there for the day. It was a great meeting with him! I loved it. We then went back to Liverpool and had a meeting with a Less active member, and then supper with a really great family! I loved it! We then drove out to Sackville to spend the night for Transfers the next morning.

Thursday: At 6:00 in the morning I was headed out on the Transfer Van to PEI. It was a pretty long trip and I didn't actually get back to the Island until about noon. But It was an adventure! We got back to the island just in time to eat lunch, unpack a little and then go to correlation. Jump right in, that is the way to do it! We met a less active member, and ran around a ton, it was so great! We went to Young Men's and did P90x.. I am still sore.. Never again! haha! (Oh, and I was called to be the Young Men's President out here, so I'm not just a missionary, I'm part of the Branch! That's pretty cool! :D)

Friday: Weekly planning. It's crazy having to plan for 9 investigators! I love it! Not much else or Friday...

Saturday: We went out to Alberton. Such a cool little place! We knocked a ton, and met some really cool people! We prayed with a pastor, and met Father "Bonecrusher". It's such a cool place! I love the people here! So spiritual! We picked up a new investigator out there. We went in and she started spouting Anti at us, and we just answered all the questions she asked. The more she asked the more interested she got, and now we are going to be teaching her! So that is pretty cool!

Sunday: Blizzard.... We don't cancel church around here, so we still had sacrament meeting. It was great! I only got to meet about 8 members of the branch, but they were all so fantastic! I was sustained as the Young Men's President out here, its going to be a fun one! And then we were stuck in the apartment for the rest of the night.

I hope every one is having a great week! I'm sorry my letter was so short this time! 

from awhile back - the handprint I left on a members wall

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

Elder Nielsen

 

A few more details from his letter to me (his Mom)

Q: How did you get there?  It looks to me like there is a bridge that you can drive on?

A: There is a bridge out to the Island.  It is super long, and really impressive.  Its a couple of Kilometers, so I enjoyed driving over it. It's called Confederation Bridge.

 

Q: Companion's name and hometown..  and How is that going?

A: My new companion is Elder Balle, he is from West Valley Ut.  It's been going really great so far. I am enjoying it.

 

Q: Is there really 10 feet of snow?

A: Yes, there is actually 10 feet of snow... and more because we had a blizzard yesterday, and there is tons of blowing snow today... It's actually a small miracle that I am writing to you right now.  We were just lucky enough to get out of our apartment.  All the other missionaries on the Island are stuck, so that kinda sucks for them.

 

 

Farewell to Nova Scotia

Weekly Selfie - Haircuts are fun :P

 

HAPPY MONDAY!!!!!

Here we are, another beautiful Monday morning in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia! My very last P-Day in the area! Oh Snap, it's transfer time again!

So, I forgot my planner again today, so I'm brainless again. I'm hoping I can pull something out of the air for this week!

Monday: Just your average P-Day. I got my first professional Haircut in Bridgewater. I didn't have the tools to do it myself this time... So I got it chopped professionally. So yeah, That is about all we did for P-day last week. No adventures to report.

Tuesday: Not too much to report for Tuesday either. We worked out in Mahone Bay, that is always fun. We had supper with a member of the ward. He has us booked to come over every Tuesday night. Sweet guy. And then we shoveled some snow for him so that the mail carrier could actually get into the mail box. And then we came home. Not too exciting of a day. 

One of the kids in the ward drew this on the chalkboard.
They one of the Left is me and the one on the right is him.

Wednesday: District Meeting in Sackville! Our very last one as a district before transfers :( It was really great. President showed up for about 10 seconds, and then left, so that was interesting. then we drove back to Bridgewater. We had supper at with a really nice couple from the ward! And then to top the night off, we went and sat in meetings for a bunch of hours. That was Uber fun :P

Thursday: We started doing service at the Hospital. We even get our own hospital ID cards and everything, it's pretty cool. After service we went for lunch, and then I couldn't tell you what happened after that, because I don't have my brain today... Whoops...

A little girl in the ward drew this one. I am the potato with the mustache,
 and Elder O'Brien is the other one.

Friday: Weekly Planning! Always super fun. I really don't remember much of Friday either... my bad. I know we finished out the night by going to the Games Night that we put on for the ward. As we were leaving, we saw that one of the members had a flat tire. Everyone else had left, and she was stuck, pregnant, with 4 kids running around her. She wasn't in any place to change a tire. And so I am very thankful that Dad taught me how to change a tire when I was younger, because we were able to get her all set up and ready to go in no time. That was fun.

Saturday: Liverpool day! We have had a leaking tire for about a month now, and before going out to Liverpool, we finally too it in to get fixed. Turns out we had a nail in the tire, and that is why it kept losing air even after we would fill it up... oops. After we got that whole fiasco worked out, out to Liverpool! We met with a couple of less active members there, and did some knocking and street contacting. Normal missionary stuff. And then finished up with supper at a members house. It was a pretty good time. After Liverpool, we rushed back to Bridgewater for a lesson with one of our investigators. She is doing pretty well! That's about it for Saturday.

Out in Liverpool all of the fire things are dressed up like little "Privateers". I thought they were pretty cool :P

Sunday: Transfer letters.... I got the chopping block this time. I am leaving Bridgewater. This coming Thursday I leaver for Summerside, Prince Edward Island. That is pretty exciting! It seems I always get transferred right in the middle of an event that is getting planned! But that is just the way life goes. We had two supper appointments. That was a lot of fun!

That's all I can remember for this week. I tried, I promise!

I hope you are all having a great week, I love you all so much!

Next week I will be writing from snowy PEI, so that is exciting! Adventure is out there!

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

Elder Nielsen

...Some minor injuries and what not!

Look at me, at the forefront of every Canada winter fashion :P

Well hello again!

Here we are again, another week where I have no clue what to write... I am super bad at these blog letter things... But, I keep trying, and that's the best that I can do :P

Oh what a week it has been here in Bridgewater! Some interesting things have happened, some minor injuries and what not!

Monday: Nothing all to interesting. It was a pretty average P-Day. We went shopping at Frenchy's, which is basically Canadain DI (And pretty much sponsored by the church because that is where all the Mormons shop :P) I picked up a nice tie and a scarf, so I shouldn't be freezing again anytime soon! But yeah, other than that it was your pretty normal Monday.

Tuesday: We went out to Lockeport with one of the members to do his Home Teaching and to see if we could possibly get in to see our investigator out there (Lockeport is like 2 hours away from Bridgewater) Success on both parts! We went to see a part member family out there, and it was such a great meeting! We ended  up giving them both blessings one of healing and one of comfort and council, it was awesome! They are such sweet people! Then we went into Lockeport Proper and talked to our investigator out there. Since we were last able to get in to see him he as read most of the Book of Mormon, the Gospel Principles Manual, and has started on the Teachings of the Presidents. So, basically what I am saying is he is solid! He has a hard time with modern day prophets, but we read James 1:5 and Moroni 10:3-5 with him and he got really excited and said he was going to pray until he got his answer! He is super great!

Wednesday: District meeting in Sackville. It was a pretty great meeting. Not only was the whole district there, but the Zone Leaders came along, and the Sister Training Leaders. It was a wee bit intimidating! But everything went well, and life is good :D After the meeting we started our exchange with the Zone Leaders. I brought one of them back to Bridgewater with me, and my companion went on back to Kentville with the other. Like I said in my previous letter ALWAYS CHECK THE WEATHER BEFORE AN EXCHANGE! It took us over two hours to get back to Bridgewater because it was snowing so hard (and Sackville is only about an hours drive away on a good day) But, we were still able to knock a little, and have a supper appointment with a great family before being confined to meetings for the rest of the night.

The "Ice-roads" of Atlantic Canada! We are driving on about 3 inches of ice, its pretty scary stuff!

 

Thursday: We had a pretty full day of work. We went out to Mahone Bay to do some work out there. We went to see a less active memeber out there who only hasn't been to church because she has a lot of health problems. She is amazing! A couple of weeks ago, she got a major infection in her foot and it ended up taking a huge chunk of her foot off, leaving the bones and the tendons exposed. When she came home from the hospital, she asked us for a blessing, and we came over and did that for her. We came on Thursday, after she had just been back to the hospital for a check up on in. The flesh had regrown over the bones and tendons, and she was almost 6 week ahead of where she should have been in the healing process. It was incredible! This lady has so much faith! She is an inspiration to me! We finished the night off by driving out to New Ross and switching back companions.

Friday: It was an interesting day. We had an appointment a ways away from home, so we travelled all the way out there, and got stood up... So we tried some of her neighbours. One of the doors we knocked on ended up being a former investigator, and she told us to come back when her husband was home the next day so that they could learn together. That was pretty exciting. We spent the rest of the night in Games Night that we put on for the ward.

Saturday: We were all over the place! I think we ended up driving about 200k (124 Miles). We had an appointment in Chester, and then another appointment back in Bridgewater, and then another appointment out in Middlewood. It was pretty crazy! We got out to Middlewood for the appointment with the former that we had set up, only to find we had been stood up again... it was pretty disappointing... But that is how life goes!


I don't know if you can see it, but that is where I bumped my head... oops...

Sunday: Church! It was fast and testimony meeting which is always great. After church we got a call from the former that wasn't home on Saturday and asked us to come back over that day, and invited us over for supper! So we went out a little early, and were also able to meet with the neighbour that had stood us up a couple of days before. We had a little bit of extra time before we had to be over for supper, so we knocked a couple of doors in the area, and this is where the minor injuries occur... Remember that this is Canada, and it is winter, and there is ice EVERYWHERE! We were walking up an uphill driveway, that was completely covered in ice. We got so near the top of it, when I, with my incredible balance skills, slipped on the ice and smacked my head on the ice. My head snapped back a little bit so I hit the ice twice, and popped all the way down my neck. I laid there a little dazed for a minute, but was able to get up and keep knocking. No major injuries. Just a cut on my forehead, a huge goose egg, and a sore neck and hands, but life is good :D

So yeah... That is where life is at! Everything is going well! I still haven't seen any moose, just in case you were wondering. And I have yet to see anyone ride a polar bear to their igloo home... guess those are all just myths... bummer.

I hope you are all having a great week! I love y'all!

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

Elder Nielsen

 

my deformed and leprous thumbs...

Jk, it's actually just where the frostbite is peeling of :P

A sweet license plate was saw! This person knows what's up :P

 

This is the view outside my apartment, in case you were wondering.