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

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!