The days of endless summer just roll on!

Well hello again!

It's been quite the last few days! Well a quick update on life. On the 13th, I did end up meeting with TJ and Tate. We played ultimate and independence park with my sister and a few of her friends before we hit up city creek and ate. After that, the next biggest thing that happened was getting my new car!

Although the name hasn't yet been decided upon yet, the front runner is James. Such as the butler, ie "take me home James!" any ideas would be appreciated. That happened on Tuesday and I also got the chance to go hiking with a good friend, Sarah England. It wasn't a long hike but it was a lot of fun.

Wednesday and Friday were pretty vanilla but Thursday was something different. Ken Melrose and Nick Philips worked with me as RA's at the University of Utah and I haven't seen them since, well I don't know. It's definitely been a while. So we met up at the Pie and had pizza and caught up for awhile. It was great to see them. Ken is heading up to University of Idaho for law school and Nick is heading up to Boise to work and might be working for the air force here soon. After we ate, I headed to the college of nursing and said hello to my former bosses Dori Fortune and Janice Morse. They are doing great. I loved working them.

Saturday was a pretty full day at the Nielson house. We started first having to go up by the Bountiful Temple to help setup for a wedding before we picked up my brother and went to the newest Batman movie. I loved it. Maybe because it was my first movie in theatre since I was home, but I was absolutely enthralled by the movie. There definitely some flaws in it but it was a great and enjoyable ride that I would recommend to anyone. It also left me with a lot to think about. Overall I went to be entertained and I was. After the movie we went to the Pioneer Day Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert at the conference center. I've always wanted to go to one of their concerts and it was fantastic! Always a recommended event if you ever get the chance to see the choir in action. There is a reason why they are as good as most people think.

The next day was Sunday and the biggest thing that happened on Sunday was that I taught the priesthood lesson in church. The assigned topic was Elder Haleck talk in April of 2012 titled, 'Having the vision to do.' I really enjoyed teaching the class and it reinforced the importance of having vision in our lives. Without, we don't achieve everything that is possible for us to achieve I wonder how much talent is wasted every year because someone lacks the vision to achieve. I know there are many different things that could of happened in my life if I would of had the vision to do. I always thought that I could have been a lot better at football if I would of had the vision. Rather I was caught up in other things. I hope that in my life I'll be able to keep the vision of eternal salvation. That will definitely require sacrifice and dedication but it is all possible! I truly believe it is. Saying all this I must admit that I have been very blessed in my life. I've never grown up with an obscured vision due to pain, suffering, or disappointment. I grew up fortunate or even blessed knowing that everything was possible for me: Happiness, success, even love. Now, it requires a lot of hard work.

Well another week has begun and it is shaping up to be a good one. I can't wait to see what will happen and I'll let you know on the other side of it!

As Always

Nathan John Nielson

It's been a long week

There is nothing else to do.... Really, I've done it all...

I finished my last mission assignment on Sunday when I talked in church. I was asked to speak using Elder Paul Koelliker's April 2012 General Conference talk, He Truly Loves Us. My talked was mainly about the patterns our Heavenly Father uses to instruct us. Such as the patterns of revelation, comfort, and chastisement. I feel like it went pretty good and when it was in combo with Elder May's talk on sacrifices I feel like it was a really good meeting. After church was over, we had a small, or something like that, lunch at my parents house. It was really cool especially with everyone that came. Shout outs go to TJ Guinn and Will Adams who came all the way to Stansbury Park. 

Since then though it has been pretty slow. I'm been doing my best to just try and stay occupied. I haven't had too much going on. I did have institute on Tuesday and I went to the church history museum on Wednesday. That is a pretty cool museum by the way, there were a lot of things that I had never seen before. They had a really cool scale model of the Salt Lake City valley in 1870 or so. Pretty cool!

Tonight we are playing ultimate or football tonight at the Liberty Park with a few of the returned missionaries. Should be a lot of fun. School starts on the 20th of August and my schedule is set.

Family Law MT 10:00-11:15
Criminal Procedure WRF 10:00-10:50
Wills and Trusts MTWR 1:00-1:50
Evidence WRF  2:00-2:50

I'm pretty exciting and I just keep floating on!

As Always

Nathan John Nielson

It is over!

My father once told me that the purpose of life was to start new projects, finish them, and then begin all over again! Well I've done it. I have completed the greatest journey of my not so long life. My journey began in the spring of 2010, when I received a call to serve in the West Indies Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It took me from Provo, Utah to Knoxville, Tennessee then to Trinidad, Suriname, and Grenada respectfully. I learned two new languages and had the opportunity to associate with thousands of wonderful people who have touched my life in unforgettable ways.

It is truly impossible to describe my mission in a simple post, so I'll just say that it was amazing. I hope that as I continue to catch up with everyone that I'll have the opportunity to share more of it with you. I returned home on Thursday the 28th of June. We flew from Trinidad to Miami then Miami to Dallas and finally Dallas to Salt Lake City. We got in around 8:45pm and our parents were there and also some of the other elders from Suriname.

Since then I've been drying to catch up with everyone and everything that has changed in the last two years which means a last of work. I still have a lot to do as well! I speak tomorrow in scarement meeting and then it'll just be a waiting game until school starts in August. Other then that, I don't have too much going on. Just trying to keep doing the good and it the bad. It will be interesting trying to get ready for school again.

Saying all of this I want to thank you all for your support and encouragement, your love and your care, and your faith and prayers. Certainly my mission would have been a success had y'all not been a part of it. I appreciate you and have much love as well. Thank you for everything and I can't wait to be with you again!

With much love,

  Nathan John Nielson