Friday, August 27, 2010
A phone call?
Nathan called last night and he is going to serve in the Knoxville, TN Mission until his visa comes. He flys there on Wednesday, Sept.1. He is very excited to be leaving the MTC. We joked that he might not use Dutch there but his Okie will come in handy.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
10th Week
An email that I received from my Mission President nothing confidential I think so I think you'll like it.
Either way, here is my family letter,
Hello Family!
We still remain! My companion and I see this as a blessing and we've been working really hard to make it so but as I said, we remain. We don't know when we will be reassigned or if we will be. As far as we currently know we stay at the grace and mercy of the travel department in Salt Lake City and they'll in conjunction with the Missionary Executive Committee will decide our fate. Oh well! We keep working as I said and we want to use this as a jumping off point for our mission to jump straight into success. So we continue to work hard and do our best. A few highlights of the last week.
Thursday:
My name tag got stolen at gym time. Apperently there is a Spanish speaking Elder Nielson. He accidently grabbed my tag instead of his own and walked away with it. That is the conclusion of the story but it was hilerous with how it played out. We got back to the tag pick up and my companion looked at me and said "hey isn't that your tag right there?" I looked over and almost grabbed it before I read how the church's name was spelled and it was definitly not Dutch, it was Spanish. So we conlcuded what must have happened and then we walked away. Well as we got to breakfast I realized I didn't have my card to get in so we had to go back to the apartment. As we were walking out I noticed the name Elder Nielson on a name tag and stopped the Elder. Sure enough he had my tag and was just taking it to the information desk. It was quite funny for us. I was walking around for awhile saying, "They stole my name tag." Much like my father did when they stole his ball.
Tuesday:
They reopened the Gym on Tuesday for the devotionals because the bleachers have been reinstalled. We got pretty good seats and for some reason they didn't announce who the speaker was. During the second prelude hymn in walks Elder Holland of the Twelve and the chatter just began. We all stood up and watched him walk in and sure enough he spoke to us for a hour and a half. It was fantastic and probably the best devotional we've had while we've been here.
Other then that it is work as usual and we continue to work that is for sure. Things are great and we love being here. I hope you are all doing well as well!
Elder Nielson
Dear Elders and Sisters,
Baptisms this week 3
Baptism August 18
Hard date next week 9
Magic number: 55
Sacrament meeting attendance 2471
Melchisedeck Preisthood 399
I gave my letter the title Elder Wilkinson, because I have learned alot from him this past week. Elder Wilkinson has given a new dimension to the words "DEDICATION TO THE WORK".He is a new Elder he arrived 6 weeks ago he served in Trinidad and worked with great dedication to reach his goals with his companion. When suddenly he had to be taken to the Hospital for some serious health problem,
As We visited him, he had a hard time breathing and speaking required great efforts. Elder Wilkinson only concerns were the contacts he had made and that he could not call back, he talked to me of an investigator, Lennox, that they were teaching that was making great progress, and how crucial it was for him to come to church. he wanted me to make sure that Lennox was at church so that he can be baptized.
As he was trying to write the names on a piece of paper his hand was shaking. After 5 days Elder Wilkinson is still in Intensive Care Unit, When I asked him Elder Do you want to talk to your mom, he looked at me and said " No, President?!! It is not Christmas". his only desires are to his mission.We are honoured to have such a great young man with us. Today as I went to the branch he was serving in, I looked for Lennox, he was there, Elder Wilkinson was right, Lennox is great, I asked him if he would come and visit Elder Wilkinson, he came, the joy that this young Elder had as he saw his investigator walk in the room, said so much about his love for the work, the Savior and the people he was teaching.
Trully he has forgotten himself to have an eye Single to the Glory of God.Then I thought about all of us that are serving now and I realized that you all are just like Elder Wilkinson dedicated to the LORD and Desirous to establish his church to love the peolple and forget about yourself,
but sometime some of us get trapped with sins that destroy our focus and our faith and our hope and our charity.
The scriptures say " Charity Seeketh not her own,... beareth all things, hopeth all things and endureth all things".
How Can Sin and Desobedience destroy our Faith, Hope, and Charity???
If one sin or be desobiedient can he hope to have a place at the right hand of God? NO
If he can not why would he Love the God that will not accept him at the last day and how could the spirit manifest to him the love of God, unless he repents and come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
So can he devellop Charity or receive Charity from the Spirit as a gift from God for the true disciples of his sons? NO (see Moroni 7:48)unless he repents he cannot and Shall be rejected at the Last day.
But then if he has no Hope nor Charity can he have faith in Christ????
Faith is not beleiving only (see James 2:19,20) but he that say he has faith and sin is a lier for faith in christ push to action and good works, because of Hope and then come Charity as a result of obedience and submission to God and the Promise of eternal life given to all that serve faithfully.
Yes SIN destroy what is the most beautifull in us and instead of focusing on the work we get concern about ourselves and our interest, we act in improper manner and the eye single to the Glory of God is far gone.
SIN Is a poison that would kill anyone that mess with it, but the Lord has payed for the cure, It is called REPENTANCE, OBEDIENCE, and one must confess and forsaske the sin to be forgiven.(see D&C 58:43)
Two are going home this week, and I rejoice for them; for even thou they leave the mission they are on the way to repentance and better of for eternal life. How many of us need to refocus and put on the altar all that the Lord really requires of us.We all dream of establishing the Church and see great and marvellous miracles. but how many want to give it all
D&C 121:34,35 says "...Many are called, but few are chosen. and why are they not chosen?
because their hearts are set so much upon the things of the world......"
Yes, we are all like Elder Wilkinson with great righteous desires but some can not make those desires lead their lives because they are to worry still about themselves.
2 years is so short what will we say at the end, yes, I have given every things and more, or will we say it knowing that we could have done better.
I have felt so desapointed with myself when I comtemplate that one year as already pass by and that we have not make any significant progress toward our goals of establishing the Church in the West Indies.
The Lord says in D&C 105:5 " ...Zion can not be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive it unto myself."one of the law of the celestial kingdom is the law of consecration. giving every thing that we are to the Lord.
even bed ridden be so concern about investigators and contacts, willing to keep all rules with exactness and carring for those that were brought by others.
I do not ask you to work when you are sick, but to reconcider where you stand in your consecration to the Lord, to be able to establish Zion where ever the Lord calls you.
We will not reach our Goals for this year and we would have to go to the Lord seeking for forgivness, but if we have to fail can we fail with Glory ?!!!.
PLEASE remember Elder Wilkinson in your prayers that he may recover, be better and leave the hospital able to serve as he dreams of, remember also his example and let him be in his dificulties a source of inspiration to come to the Lord be united all to The Savior, in that unity that is pleasing unto God, an EYE SINGLE TO THE GLORY OF GOD.
We Love you and are honoured to serve with you, and want over all to establish ZION in our hearts and in the Mission, the Districts, the Branches, the Homes
President and Sister Gamiette
Either way, here is my family letter,
Hello Family!
We still remain! My companion and I see this as a blessing and we've been working really hard to make it so but as I said, we remain. We don't know when we will be reassigned or if we will be. As far as we currently know we stay at the grace and mercy of the travel department in Salt Lake City and they'll in conjunction with the Missionary Executive Committee will decide our fate. Oh well! We keep working as I said and we want to use this as a jumping off point for our mission to jump straight into success. So we continue to work hard and do our best. A few highlights of the last week.
Thursday:
My name tag got stolen at gym time. Apperently there is a Spanish speaking Elder Nielson. He accidently grabbed my tag instead of his own and walked away with it. That is the conclusion of the story but it was hilerous with how it played out. We got back to the tag pick up and my companion looked at me and said "hey isn't that your tag right there?" I looked over and almost grabbed it before I read how the church's name was spelled and it was definitly not Dutch, it was Spanish. So we conlcuded what must have happened and then we walked away. Well as we got to breakfast I realized I didn't have my card to get in so we had to go back to the apartment. As we were walking out I noticed the name Elder Nielson on a name tag and stopped the Elder. Sure enough he had my tag and was just taking it to the information desk. It was quite funny for us. I was walking around for awhile saying, "They stole my name tag." Much like my father did when they stole his ball.
Tuesday:
They reopened the Gym on Tuesday for the devotionals because the bleachers have been reinstalled. We got pretty good seats and for some reason they didn't announce who the speaker was. During the second prelude hymn in walks Elder Holland of the Twelve and the chatter just began. We all stood up and watched him walk in and sure enough he spoke to us for a hour and a half. It was fantastic and probably the best devotional we've had while we've been here.
Other then that it is work as usual and we continue to work that is for sure. Things are great and we love being here. I hope you are all doing well as well!
Elder Nielson
Dear Elders and Sisters,
Baptisms this week 3
Baptism August 18
Hard date next week 9
Magic number: 55
Sacrament meeting attendance 2471
Melchisedeck Preisthood 399
I gave my letter the title Elder Wilkinson, because I have learned alot from him this past week. Elder Wilkinson has given a new dimension to the words "DEDICATION TO THE WORK".He is a new Elder he arrived 6 weeks ago he served in Trinidad and worked with great dedication to reach his goals with his companion. When suddenly he had to be taken to the Hospital for some serious health problem,
As We visited him, he had a hard time breathing and speaking required great efforts. Elder Wilkinson only concerns were the contacts he had made and that he could not call back, he talked to me of an investigator, Lennox, that they were teaching that was making great progress, and how crucial it was for him to come to church. he wanted me to make sure that Lennox was at church so that he can be baptized.
As he was trying to write the names on a piece of paper his hand was shaking. After 5 days Elder Wilkinson is still in Intensive Care Unit, When I asked him Elder Do you want to talk to your mom, he looked at me and said " No, President?!! It is not Christmas". his only desires are to his mission.We are honoured to have such a great young man with us. Today as I went to the branch he was serving in, I looked for Lennox, he was there, Elder Wilkinson was right, Lennox is great, I asked him if he would come and visit Elder Wilkinson, he came, the joy that this young Elder had as he saw his investigator walk in the room, said so much about his love for the work, the Savior and the people he was teaching.
Trully he has forgotten himself to have an eye Single to the Glory of God.Then I thought about all of us that are serving now and I realized that you all are just like Elder Wilkinson dedicated to the LORD and Desirous to establish his church to love the peolple and forget about yourself,
but sometime some of us get trapped with sins that destroy our focus and our faith and our hope and our charity.
The scriptures say " Charity Seeketh not her own,... beareth all things, hopeth all things and endureth all things".
How Can Sin and Desobedience destroy our Faith, Hope, and Charity???
If one sin or be desobiedient can he hope to have a place at the right hand of God? NO
If he can not why would he Love the God that will not accept him at the last day and how could the spirit manifest to him the love of God, unless he repents and come with a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
So can he devellop Charity or receive Charity from the Spirit as a gift from God for the true disciples of his sons? NO (see Moroni 7:48)unless he repents he cannot and Shall be rejected at the Last day.
But then if he has no Hope nor Charity can he have faith in Christ????
Faith is not beleiving only (see James 2:19,20) but he that say he has faith and sin is a lier for faith in christ push to action and good works, because of Hope and then come Charity as a result of obedience and submission to God and the Promise of eternal life given to all that serve faithfully.
Yes SIN destroy what is the most beautifull in us and instead of focusing on the work we get concern about ourselves and our interest, we act in improper manner and the eye single to the Glory of God is far gone.
SIN Is a poison that would kill anyone that mess with it, but the Lord has payed for the cure, It is called REPENTANCE, OBEDIENCE, and one must confess and forsaske the sin to be forgiven.(see D&C 58:43)
Two are going home this week, and I rejoice for them; for even thou they leave the mission they are on the way to repentance and better of for eternal life. How many of us need to refocus and put on the altar all that the Lord really requires of us.We all dream of establishing the Church and see great and marvellous miracles. but how many want to give it all
D&C 121:34,35 says "...Many are called, but few are chosen. and why are they not chosen?
because their hearts are set so much upon the things of the world......"
Yes, we are all like Elder Wilkinson with great righteous desires but some can not make those desires lead their lives because they are to worry still about themselves.
2 years is so short what will we say at the end, yes, I have given every things and more, or will we say it knowing that we could have done better.
I have felt so desapointed with myself when I comtemplate that one year as already pass by and that we have not make any significant progress toward our goals of establishing the Church in the West Indies.
The Lord says in D&C 105:5 " ...Zion can not be built up unless it is by the principles of the law of the celestial kingdom; otherwise I cannot receive it unto myself."one of the law of the celestial kingdom is the law of consecration. giving every thing that we are to the Lord.
even bed ridden be so concern about investigators and contacts, willing to keep all rules with exactness and carring for those that were brought by others.
I do not ask you to work when you are sick, but to reconcider where you stand in your consecration to the Lord, to be able to establish Zion where ever the Lord calls you.
We will not reach our Goals for this year and we would have to go to the Lord seeking for forgivness, but if we have to fail can we fail with Glory ?!!!.
PLEASE remember Elder Wilkinson in your prayers that he may recover, be better and leave the hospital able to serve as he dreams of, remember also his example and let him be in his dificulties a source of inspiration to come to the Lord be united all to The Savior, in that unity that is pleasing unto God, an EYE SINGLE TO THE GLORY OF GOD.
We Love you and are honoured to serve with you, and want over all to establish ZION in our hearts and in the Mission, the Districts, the Branches, the Homes
President and Sister Gamiette
Thursday, August 19, 2010
9th Week
I was hoping we would have good news about Nathan's flight plan, but no such luck. I was in Provo on Monday and how I longed to drop by the MTC and demand they let me see my baby. (Nathan has asked several times that I not refer to him as my baby but once my baby always my baby)
Nathan was allowed to call home and it was beautiful to hear his voice. Although the call was only 5 min. It was enough time to make me homesick for the guy and to hear the happiness in his voice. It makes a mom's heart full to hear that happiness.
As my last email to the family mentioned we are delayed in the MTC. There is more information to the story though!
So we knew we were delayed before I sent my last email and so I was able to let you know. On Thursday/Friday though the other companionship in our district discovered that they were too delayed. Well sort of. They have been delayed from arriving in Netherlands/Belgium but they were reassigned to Mississippi. So while my companion and I wait it out by ourselves in the MTC as the lone companionship in our district the other three get to go off into the big scary world of Mississippi Jackson Mission. I may sound a bit bitter and I won't lie its a bit frustrating but what can you do? Just gotta keep working and not worrying about it I guess. The funny thing happened today when we tried to check our email. When we tried to login it said, "I'm Sorry you can only check our email on PDays or for less then 30mins on that day." We hadn't been on yet and it was our pday so we were a bit interested. We checked with IT who told us our daily schedule had been deleted off of the system because we were supposed to have left... So we checked with scheduling office and they actually had 4 new elders moving into our room which only contains 4 total beds. We nearly had to repel a room invasion by the groentjes (A bit of nederengels basically it means greenies). We were told we won't be leaving or hearing about it probably until a week which will be the 23rd. I guess I'll probably get another Pday at the MTC.
Things are going well ultimately. Dutch is coming along we are teaching well and getting along quite well. Things are good.
Elder Nielson
Nathan was allowed to call home and it was beautiful to hear his voice. Although the call was only 5 min. It was enough time to make me homesick for the guy and to hear the happiness in his voice. It makes a mom's heart full to hear that happiness.
As my last email to the family mentioned we are delayed in the MTC. There is more information to the story though!
So we knew we were delayed before I sent my last email and so I was able to let you know. On Thursday/Friday though the other companionship in our district discovered that they were too delayed. Well sort of. They have been delayed from arriving in Netherlands/Belgium but they were reassigned to Mississippi. So while my companion and I wait it out by ourselves in the MTC as the lone companionship in our district the other three get to go off into the big scary world of Mississippi Jackson Mission. I may sound a bit bitter and I won't lie its a bit frustrating but what can you do? Just gotta keep working and not worrying about it I guess. The funny thing happened today when we tried to check our email. When we tried to login it said, "I'm Sorry you can only check our email on PDays or for less then 30mins on that day." We hadn't been on yet and it was our pday so we were a bit interested. We checked with IT who told us our daily schedule had been deleted off of the system because we were supposed to have left... So we checked with scheduling office and they actually had 4 new elders moving into our room which only contains 4 total beds. We nearly had to repel a room invasion by the groentjes (A bit of nederengels basically it means greenies). We were told we won't be leaving or hearing about it probably until a week which will be the 23rd. I guess I'll probably get another Pday at the MTC.
Things are going well ultimately. Dutch is coming along we are teaching well and getting along quite well. Things are good.
Elder Nielson
Friday, August 13, 2010
8th Week
The talk at the dinner table is when does Nathan fly to the West Indies and how we wish we could go to the airport. Remember the good old days when the family could go to the airport and see their missionary off. Of course in those days there wasn't email so you never knew when you would get a letter either. When I think about it, I will gladly trade seeing my son at the airport for regular letters. Nathan will get to call between flights. When we got todays letter we were expecting to receive his flight plans but as you can see he is delayed. Please pray for his visa <./em>
Another week gone by and another beginning,
This last week has been extremely exciting for us all and actually just ended with a bit of a bummer. We got our travel plans in the mail last Friday and we were super excited to be leaving on Monday the 16th at 3am in the morning for the Aiport to catch a 6am flight to Dallas-Fort Worth. Instead though, we just found out about an hour or two ago that my companion and I, the only Dutch speaking missionaries in the entire MTC going to the West Indies, have been been delayed at least a week beacuse our visas have not arrived. As I've mentioned in my earlier emails this isn't unusal as the last 4 groups of Dutch West Indies have also been delayed at least a few weeks. So we will be here at least one more week and then if we don't hear anything about our visas we'll be temporarily reassigned to a English speaking USA mission. I'm hoping for Washington DC or somewhere pretty cool. Either way we'll go where we are supposed to go. Everything else has been going great. We've been keeping busy focused and excited about the work. My companion and I have been teaching really well and things are great.
Some interesting things that have happened to me in the last week:
In our weekly personal interview with one of the two teachers, Brother Griffin asked me to, "Stop answering all the questions so quickly." Apperently, both teachers feel like I'm answering the questions too quickly and not giving the other elders a chance to think about it and then answer. So I've been working really hard on not being so smart... It's hard for me, I won't lie. It made me laugh and think about being in Law School. In Law School they have a term for someone who answers all athe questions all the time at that is the Gunner ( The person gunning for the A ). The saying goes that if you don't know who the class gunner is then it is probably you... Whoops I guess I'm the gunner in the Dutch district 36E.
Loving the MTC, but I don't know if I love it enough for another week... Just kidding
Love
Elder Nielson
Another week gone by and another beginning,
This last week has been extremely exciting for us all and actually just ended with a bit of a bummer. We got our travel plans in the mail last Friday and we were super excited to be leaving on Monday the 16th at 3am in the morning for the Aiport to catch a 6am flight to Dallas-Fort Worth. Instead though, we just found out about an hour or two ago that my companion and I, the only Dutch speaking missionaries in the entire MTC going to the West Indies, have been been delayed at least a week beacuse our visas have not arrived. As I've mentioned in my earlier emails this isn't unusal as the last 4 groups of Dutch West Indies have also been delayed at least a few weeks. So we will be here at least one more week and then if we don't hear anything about our visas we'll be temporarily reassigned to a English speaking USA mission. I'm hoping for Washington DC or somewhere pretty cool. Either way we'll go where we are supposed to go. Everything else has been going great. We've been keeping busy focused and excited about the work. My companion and I have been teaching really well and things are great.
Some interesting things that have happened to me in the last week:
In our weekly personal interview with one of the two teachers, Brother Griffin asked me to, "Stop answering all the questions so quickly." Apperently, both teachers feel like I'm answering the questions too quickly and not giving the other elders a chance to think about it and then answer. So I've been working really hard on not being so smart... It's hard for me, I won't lie. It made me laugh and think about being in Law School. In Law School they have a term for someone who answers all athe questions all the time at that is the Gunner ( The person gunning for the A ). The saying goes that if you don't know who the class gunner is then it is probably you... Whoops I guess I'm the gunner in the Dutch district 36E.
Loving the MTC, but I don't know if I love it enough for another week... Just kidding
Love
Elder Nielson
Thursday, August 5, 2010
7th Week
Hey another week and another letter. Nathan sounds great. Reading Nathan's letters makes me happy. Not the fluffy happy from eating a candy bar or ice cream but the all the way to the bottom of my heart happy. I love knowing that he is doing the right thing at the right time and he likes it.
Sounds like the MTC is a little brutal. Nathan please becareful. Those other men at the MTC are younger than you :)
Well Week Seven (Sefen) is now officially over!
Woot!
To sum up with last week is quite simple, pain. I've picked up more knocks and nicks this last week then I have since I was playing football in high school. I think most of them come from the time I've been spending in between the cross bars during gym. I've started to play goalie during the soccer games and I actually do okay. I think though, that this work has me picking up some bruises and others knocks. The worse came on last Thursday. I don't remember how it happened but I got up after one time diving for the ball and my foot was killing me, the big toe to big exact. I walked back to the apartment and the pain was incredible to say the least probably the worst I've had for some time. We went to the MTC clinic and they thought it might be broken so we then ended up going to the BYU Health Clinic here on campus. Luckily enough there was no break and it is probably just a sprained ligament or tendon in the toe. I've had pain and discomfort since but nothing so bad that it wasn't bareable. They said that I should be fine for leaving on the scheduled departue date. The next night I woke I had a pretty awesome(horrible) cramp in my calf on my left leg. Although not the most comfortable week I've see had a really good and enjoyable week to say the least.
The devotional this last Tuesday was from Elder and Sister Kendrick from Baton Rouge LA. They spoke on obedience and on faith. Both were excellent talks and I enjoyed them immensely. Probably, the funniest part is when Elder Kendrick asked, "Does anyone have a girlfriend out there?" after a short pause he said he wanted to address our concerns about whether or not they would be there when we got back and so he followed up with, "Don't worry, they will be gone when you get back. Girlfriends do not hang around for two years, although internal companions might, a girlfriend that couldn't make it through two years would never make it through eternity. With his southern accent and the people around it was quite an amusing moment. I wonder sometimes about the devotional speakers. They must truly all be inspired as we've yet to have someone come that didn't speak on something that was important to us in some meaningful way. The devotionals are amazing.
As you can see everything is going well. Thank you again for all the letters I appreciate them immensly and I enjoy them all. I try to respond to everyone, but if I've neglected I'm sorry and I'll try to do better next time!
One Love,
Elder Nielson
Thanks Nathan for making my day and my week.
Sounds like the MTC is a little brutal. Nathan please becareful. Those other men at the MTC are younger than you :)
Well Week Seven (Sefen) is now officially over!
Woot!
To sum up with last week is quite simple, pain. I've picked up more knocks and nicks this last week then I have since I was playing football in high school. I think most of them come from the time I've been spending in between the cross bars during gym. I've started to play goalie during the soccer games and I actually do okay. I think though, that this work has me picking up some bruises and others knocks. The worse came on last Thursday. I don't remember how it happened but I got up after one time diving for the ball and my foot was killing me, the big toe to big exact. I walked back to the apartment and the pain was incredible to say the least probably the worst I've had for some time. We went to the MTC clinic and they thought it might be broken so we then ended up going to the BYU Health Clinic here on campus. Luckily enough there was no break and it is probably just a sprained ligament or tendon in the toe. I've had pain and discomfort since but nothing so bad that it wasn't bareable. They said that I should be fine for leaving on the scheduled departue date. The next night I woke I had a pretty awesome(horrible) cramp in my calf on my left leg. Although not the most comfortable week I've see had a really good and enjoyable week to say the least.
The devotional this last Tuesday was from Elder and Sister Kendrick from Baton Rouge LA. They spoke on obedience and on faith. Both were excellent talks and I enjoyed them immensely. Probably, the funniest part is when Elder Kendrick asked, "Does anyone have a girlfriend out there?" after a short pause he said he wanted to address our concerns about whether or not they would be there when we got back and so he followed up with, "Don't worry, they will be gone when you get back. Girlfriends do not hang around for two years, although internal companions might, a girlfriend that couldn't make it through two years would never make it through eternity. With his southern accent and the people around it was quite an amusing moment. I wonder sometimes about the devotional speakers. They must truly all be inspired as we've yet to have someone come that didn't speak on something that was important to us in some meaningful way. The devotionals are amazing.
As you can see everything is going well. Thank you again for all the letters I appreciate them immensly and I enjoy them all. I try to respond to everyone, but if I've neglected I'm sorry and I'll try to do better next time!
One Love,
Elder Nielson
Thanks Nathan for making my day and my week.
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