Hello Family, Friends and Vremdeling,
You would not believe what happened this last week... It was quite the week. This letter will be a bit longer and will cover a bit so I apprecite your attention and interest. Hopefully, it makes sense.
So the Nickerie Branch has not always been the most stable branch in the Zone. Since its inception we've had two different branch presidents be released and take a good majority of the branch with them. To illistrate this point, we have 70 bapized members but only 7 active members. This is a great example of where the branch is. When Elder Bell and I got to Nickerie the branch was small but excited and they were ready for us. We started immediately and were met with mixed results: Some good and some bad. Saying this though a few weeks ago we discovered that our branch president was going to need to be released. Elder Bell and I were not sure what would occur but a few possibilties stuck out to us. There was Brother Emanuelson who had been the branch president at one point. There was Brother Veira that was just ordained to the higher priesthood. There were the Elders.
Well, Brother Veira has been having a hard time getting over his drinking problem and so we knew that would work and there were questions about Brother Emanuelson and his ability to serve. That left the Elders. So the District Presidency announced that they were coming to Nickerie this last week on Saturday and Sunday and that they were going to meet with us. In our meeting they then announced that the branch was going to be dissolved and the Elders moved back to Paramaribo with the remaining members becoming a group. In my defense of the Branch I suggested that it was too earlier to give up on the branch and that there were other possibilites still. We talked about that a bit and then President Nazir asked me that all to importent question: Elder Nielson if you were chosen to be Branch President are the willing to be here and work here? I replied, "I'm prepared to die here." (In my mind, I'm thinking in terms of dying as like finishing my mission).
Well things were left unresolved until that night when President Nazir came to our Apartment and extended the invitation to be appointed to be Branch President (When an Elder is set-apart as an Elder we automatically receiving the authority to do everything necessary in the mission field so Elders are never sustained, ordained, or re-set apart). I accepted and on Sunday was appointed to be the newest Branch President of the Nickerie Gemeente. That will mean that I will probably be here for at least six more month if not longer. I'm been informed that if I fail Gemeente Nickerie will be shut-down and if I don't succeed in the time-line given, Gemeente Nickerie will be shut down. So essential, I have six-months at the least/most, with the help of the Lord, to turn this branch around, train the leaders, and prepare one of them to take my place, or the Branch gets shut down.
So that is where I am now busy. Being Branch President and a missionary here in Nickerie. It is going to be a good time. One nice thing is the barriers that used to exist are removed. Unity between missionaries and the branch president is now 100% and the Branch President has already read most of the handbook. I just gotta not form a complex. There is a bit of confusion amongst the members as to whether it is President Nielson now or Elder Nielson but I really don't care. They did all seem really excited about me taking over the leader ship but we'll have to just see what exactly happens.
I guess you could say, I'll need your prayers!
I think I'll leave it there,
I love you all!
Love,
Elder Nathan John Nielson
Monday, August 29, 2011
Monday, August 22, 2011
58th week
Well Hello Everyone!
What a good week it has been. We had a baptism and we feel great! Vejai Purai was baptized this last Saturday and I attached photos to another email that Dad will be sending out. With that is a photo of the Branch. As you can see we are small in numbers but great in spirit. We had all of our active members there but two which was fantastic. Vejai was a great investigator and should be a great addition to the branch here. He loves the gospel and was so excited about it every step of the way. He is one where when he saw the gospel light he just went towards it and nothing could stop him. Nothing at all! He is getting the Aaronic Priesthood this next week and that will give us a Diaken(Deacon) and a Leerar(Teacher). We are pretty excited about it.
Also on Saturday was Zuster Seeta's 58 birthday! She is the only member in her family so we decided to go there and make her a treat to eat with her. We made a Jello No Bake (The oreo one) that we were able to buy at the local American Importer. I won't lie it was pretty good and I think Elder Bell and I ate the majority of it. Of course it didn't help that she ate a bit and then said it was too sweet for her to eat too much, I think a suger sickness or something. We saved some for her though and it was great.
A request for you all. Recently, we've been teaching and I've noticed that my own personal experiences are abit limited in nature and definitly not that very broad in some aspects of the gospel. (ZHV[Relief Society], Tiende[Tithing], or even the Word van Wijsheid [Word of Wisdom]) So I was hoping that if you wouldn't mind sharing if you would send me as many as possible spiritual experiences that you've had with different aspects of the gospel. A story about praying and receiving your answer would be great. Or about an experience with a priesthood blessing. Maybe, how you were able to serve someone else in the church. Anything and everything would be appreciated. For my own building upness or also to share. I'd espcially like stories of conversions that would be great. I'm roping my Dad into this without his knowldge so you can send them to me or to him and he'll compile them for me.
I send a few photos. The baptisms ones are pretty self explanatory and then there is one with two black children. The smallest is named Joel and the older one is Steven. Joel is just under two years and is amazing. He can't say full sentences yet but he loves to shoot the Elders and watch us play dead among many other things. I'm really glad I got that photo! Another one is of me and Elder Bell after we finished service by raking up that dead grass (I did most of the work for the record). The last of me just raking it up. We've had a good week.
Well I better end it here. I love you all and I wish you the best!
Love,
Elder Nathan John Nielson
What a good week it has been. We had a baptism and we feel great! Vejai Purai was baptized this last Saturday and I attached photos to another email that Dad will be sending out. With that is a photo of the Branch. As you can see we are small in numbers but great in spirit. We had all of our active members there but two which was fantastic. Vejai was a great investigator and should be a great addition to the branch here. He loves the gospel and was so excited about it every step of the way. He is one where when he saw the gospel light he just went towards it and nothing could stop him. Nothing at all! He is getting the Aaronic Priesthood this next week and that will give us a Diaken(Deacon) and a Leerar(Teacher). We are pretty excited about it.
Also on Saturday was Zuster Seeta's 58 birthday! She is the only member in her family so we decided to go there and make her a treat to eat with her. We made a Jello No Bake (The oreo one) that we were able to buy at the local American Importer. I won't lie it was pretty good and I think Elder Bell and I ate the majority of it. Of course it didn't help that she ate a bit and then said it was too sweet for her to eat too much, I think a suger sickness or something. We saved some for her though and it was great.
A request for you all. Recently, we've been teaching and I've noticed that my own personal experiences are abit limited in nature and definitly not that very broad in some aspects of the gospel. (ZHV[Relief Society], Tiende[Tithing], or even the Word van Wijsheid [Word of Wisdom]) So I was hoping that if you wouldn't mind sharing if you would send me as many as possible spiritual experiences that you've had with different aspects of the gospel. A story about praying and receiving your answer would be great. Or about an experience with a priesthood blessing. Maybe, how you were able to serve someone else in the church. Anything and everything would be appreciated. For my own building upness or also to share. I'd espcially like stories of conversions that would be great. I'm roping my Dad into this without his knowldge so you can send them to me or to him and he'll compile them for me.
I send a few photos. The baptisms ones are pretty self explanatory and then there is one with two black children. The smallest is named Joel and the older one is Steven. Joel is just under two years and is amazing. He can't say full sentences yet but he loves to shoot the Elders and watch us play dead among many other things. I'm really glad I got that photo! Another one is of me and Elder Bell after we finished service by raking up that dead grass (I did most of the work for the record). The last of me just raking it up. We've had a good week.
Well I better end it here. I love you all and I wish you the best!
Love,
Elder Nathan John Nielson
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
57th Week
Things were okay. Like I've said, Elder Bell was sick and so it was a no go for a good portion of the week. There really is nothing to do in a missionary apartment so I got pretty bored pretty quickly. I played the piano, sang, read, slept, ate, and just starred blankly at the wall. I'm so glad that is overwith and hopefully from now until whenever we'll just keep going going and going.
One cool thing that did happen. One Wednesday we had a leadership training over the computer take place. We all used this program called GoToMeeting. So we were all connected with eachother and could talk about certain things for the mission. We talked alot about House Meetings and studying. President Gamiette is putting a big focus on us having good spiritual studies every single day in order to have the power of God unto the convincing of men. It should be interesting how this is applied and works. Luckily for me it was pretty easier to distribute all the information to my district as my companion is the distict.
We've got a baptism this weekend that we are pretty excited about. It should go off without a hitch, knock on wood, he is just super solid and prepared it'll be great. Nickerie has no baptismal fonts so it'll be at the swimming pool which'll be intersting and if that doesn't work then we'll be at the Ocean or River. Pray for that. That would be cooler. The ward is the ward. Dysfunctional but what ward isn't? District presidency was supposed to come out this weekend to solve the problems but I guess they are now coming out in two weeks. Oh well I guess that just places the burden on Elder Bell and I. It is how it works sometimes.
You said I still needed to take care of my shoes? Is there still a good reason too? (*wink wink*) Either way the shoes are going well and my feet are staying together. Sounds like everyone is busy and I'm glad to hear that. Better busy then bored is what I say! Not a whole lot to say this week as well we didn't have a chance to do a whole lot :P
I love you all!
Elder Nathan John Nielson
ps That can be my family email I guess :P
Monday, August 8, 2011
56 th Week
Hello Family, Friends, and Strangers that also seem to receive this email,
What a week, what a week...
It started off pretty slow to be honest, about Wednesday or so there was a fear that the weekly goals were unattainable and we were shooting at a target we weren't supposed to hit. Then it all turned around and we were blessed. I loved it! I'm trying to think of some good stories to tell you all but really it was a week of hard work and praying. Ever since I've gotten to Nickerie the importance of prayer has been reinforced, reinforced, and then reinforced another time. Just a few days ago, we were talking about what lesson we needed to share with an inactive member of the branch. We prayed about it and the inspiration came to talk about Paul and his conversion and about how we all have certain "pricks" in our life that we need to stop kicking against. It worked wonderfully as we completely opened up to us and then committed to coming to church. Although he did then disappoint us by not showing up, we did our job and so it is his problem and not ours.
That is an important lesson to learn on your mission. Free agency. I started to hate free agency after my first little while in Suriname because it allows people to disappoint you. You commit them to coming to church, you pray for them, you fast for them, and then you sit there and they don't come. You cry, you get a little depressed, but ultimately you have to come to conclusion that you did your job and you couldn't have done anything more. When you reach that point you can receive a reassurance from Heavenly Father that you did indeed do it all. If you receive that then your burden is taken away in Christ.
We have one baptism coming up here in Nickerie on the 20th of August. The kid's name in Vejai (fa-jie). He is 14 years old but super prepared. The date was an inspired accident because I meant to say the 13th but I said the 20th. Why it was inspired is because we've had so much time to work with him, he will be the best prepared baptism I've had up to this point on my mission. We only have a few more things to teach that are required but now we'll have the time to go through lesson five (Priesthood, Temples, and the such) and a few other personal lessons to help him. He almost missed church on Sunday which would have rescheduled his baptism but we explained everything to him and he said, "I'm going to be in church then." Great faith on this one.
Overall I'm doing pretty well. We just keep going and keep trying to stay positive. Sometimes, sadly, it is a bit easy to get negative and depressed about the situation. I guess that is something where Elder Bell is important. He is super positive and keeps me going.
I love the mission and it is going great. I love you all and don't forget to write/email me! In case you are not aware anyone can email me that is allowed I just have to write you back. So email me or write me!
I love you all,
Elder Nathan John Nielson
What a week, what a week...
It started off pretty slow to be honest, about Wednesday or so there was a fear that the weekly goals were unattainable and we were shooting at a target we weren't supposed to hit. Then it all turned around and we were blessed. I loved it! I'm trying to think of some good stories to tell you all but really it was a week of hard work and praying. Ever since I've gotten to Nickerie the importance of prayer has been reinforced, reinforced, and then reinforced another time. Just a few days ago, we were talking about what lesson we needed to share with an inactive member of the branch. We prayed about it and the inspiration came to talk about Paul and his conversion and about how we all have certain "pricks" in our life that we need to stop kicking against. It worked wonderfully as we completely opened up to us and then committed to coming to church. Although he did then disappoint us by not showing up, we did our job and so it is his problem and not ours.
That is an important lesson to learn on your mission. Free agency. I started to hate free agency after my first little while in Suriname because it allows people to disappoint you. You commit them to coming to church, you pray for them, you fast for them, and then you sit there and they don't come. You cry, you get a little depressed, but ultimately you have to come to conclusion that you did your job and you couldn't have done anything more. When you reach that point you can receive a reassurance from Heavenly Father that you did indeed do it all. If you receive that then your burden is taken away in Christ.
We have one baptism coming up here in Nickerie on the 20th of August. The kid's name in Vejai (fa-jie). He is 14 years old but super prepared. The date was an inspired accident because I meant to say the 13th but I said the 20th. Why it was inspired is because we've had so much time to work with him, he will be the best prepared baptism I've had up to this point on my mission. We only have a few more things to teach that are required but now we'll have the time to go through lesson five (Priesthood, Temples, and the such) and a few other personal lessons to help him. He almost missed church on Sunday which would have rescheduled his baptism but we explained everything to him and he said, "I'm going to be in church then." Great faith on this one.
Overall I'm doing pretty well. We just keep going and keep trying to stay positive. Sometimes, sadly, it is a bit easy to get negative and depressed about the situation. I guess that is something where Elder Bell is important. He is super positive and keeps me going.
I love the mission and it is going great. I love you all and don't forget to write/email me! In case you are not aware anyone can email me that is allowed I just have to write you back. So email me or write me!
I love you all,
Elder Nathan John Nielson
55th week
Hello Family and Friends[(Some of which are more then just friends ;-)]
So big story of the week and the reason for the title:
About a month of ago, I got a package from my father with new shoes, a calendar, and maple syrup extract. I was in an area were I could not buy it and thus had needs of it from the States. Well, Í had used it the entire last transfer and made some more this last week on Tuesday. (Still have half a bottle). Randomly I look at the ingredients on the package and discover that it has 7% Alcohol in it. That is more then is legal in a bear in Utah (I think at the most it can only be 2%). I panicked a little to be honest and then set it aside. I've been breaking the word of wisdom for the last 7 weeks! Luckily, it was an honest mistake and Sister Jansen did tell me there is a good chance that all the Alcohol just cooked out. Either way though, any other missionaries out there or just anyone. Check your packages from my dad. He may be trying to get you to commit sin.
Other then that things are going, going, and not quiet gone! We had an intersting week. One investigator by the name of Veijai has now come to church twice and has prayed about the book of mormon. He says he feels like he's gotten an answer and he knows it is true. We are soo excited about him and I think he'll be baptized on the 20th of August. He is 14, but we are hoping to tag his family as well.
With that we also found another lost sheep of Nickerie. Í don't remember saying but we keep seeing the Lord's hand in our work. Everyone week we've found a random Less-active or past investigator through a wonderous way. This last week a lady was walking past the church after I had made a little bit of noise (long story don't ask) so I in an emberessed way so Hello you have a pretty dog to which she replied that is what Brother Roepers said too. Brother Roepers was a former missionary so we went and got her information. She is a lost sheep of the branch. Cool things happen to us sometimes.
Out of time.
I Love you all
Love
Elder Nathan John Nielson
So big story of the week and the reason for the title:
About a month of ago, I got a package from my father with new shoes, a calendar, and maple syrup extract. I was in an area were I could not buy it and thus had needs of it from the States. Well, Í had used it the entire last transfer and made some more this last week on Tuesday. (Still have half a bottle). Randomly I look at the ingredients on the package and discover that it has 7% Alcohol in it. That is more then is legal in a bear in Utah (I think at the most it can only be 2%). I panicked a little to be honest and then set it aside. I've been breaking the word of wisdom for the last 7 weeks! Luckily, it was an honest mistake and Sister Jansen did tell me there is a good chance that all the Alcohol just cooked out. Either way though, any other missionaries out there or just anyone. Check your packages from my dad. He may be trying to get you to commit sin.
Other then that things are going, going, and not quiet gone! We had an intersting week. One investigator by the name of Veijai has now come to church twice and has prayed about the book of mormon. He says he feels like he's gotten an answer and he knows it is true. We are soo excited about him and I think he'll be baptized on the 20th of August. He is 14, but we are hoping to tag his family as well.
With that we also found another lost sheep of Nickerie. Í don't remember saying but we keep seeing the Lord's hand in our work. Everyone week we've found a random Less-active or past investigator through a wonderous way. This last week a lady was walking past the church after I had made a little bit of noise (long story don't ask) so I in an emberessed way so Hello you have a pretty dog to which she replied that is what Brother Roepers said too. Brother Roepers was a former missionary so we went and got her information. She is a lost sheep of the branch. Cool things happen to us sometimes.
Out of time.
I Love you all
Love
Elder Nathan John Nielson
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