Elder Nelson Blog Moved
Written by lnelson on March 1st, 2010Hi Everyone,
I have started a new blog for Elder Nelson. Please go to eldernelsondownunder.blogspot.com to read Michael’s latest email and to see current pictures.
Thanks,
Lisa
Dull or Sharp? What kind of instrument are you?
Written by lnelson on February 21st, 2010G’day Everyone!
I hope everyone had a great week this past week and you were able to answer someones prayer or share your testimony. This past week was hectic as. We’ve been doing exchanges all week. Exchanges are when you swop companions for abt 24 hours so you can both check up on how your doing and you can learn off of other missionaries. We usually do about 2-3 exchanges in a transfer(6 weeks). But since we work with the other missionaries in the stake we did three this week! We had an extra one because the assistants wanted to do one with us. We also have another one this week! Its crazy business. Exchanges are always bitter sweet because you get to learn different teaching and working techniques from other missionaries but then you dont have your companion with you who you’ve already adapted to with teaching and other things. Anyways the reason why I wanted to bring this up is because each of us have different talents or skills. Elder Bills has different talents that I dont have and vise versa. And all of those talents/skills can and should be used to build up the Lord’s Kingdom. We are all indiviually different for a reason. We are all instruments in the Lord’s hands but we’re all different instruments. From the beginning of time we were given gifts or talents that some of our other brother and sisters dont have. Where you fall short somebody else can pick up where you left off and complete the task that you’ve set out to accomplish. Or the one task that we’ve all been assigned to accomplish “To bring to pass the immortality and Eternal Life of man.” With missionary work that is why it is so important that our companionships are unified. That is why it is so important that our wards are unified, our stakes, areas, Church. The Lord said “If ye are not one, ye are not mine.” That is why when Elder Eyring visited our stake he said that we need to be a Zion Like people. We need to have our “hearts knit together in unity one with another.” There were a few situations this past week where I simply didnt know what to do and I thought I could find the answer on my own but all I needed to do was ask my companion. By the way I’m so lucky to have had great companions so far in my misison. I know that this is true and that as a mission here in Australia we are trying to be more unified so that we can be stronger instruments in the Lord’s hands. For those of us who have the habit of comparing ourself to others we need to STOP! The Lord doesnt want me to be an Elder Dean(who trained me) or an Elder Bills because then he would have identical tools. Can you imagine trying to fix something and you look in your toolbox and you have a million copies of the same tool! That would be so frustrating. So all I’m trying to say is be yourself and be the best self you can be. ”Sharpen” yourself so that God has a sharpened tool in his toolbox not a “dull” one. The way we can do this is by the “enabling power” of the Atonement. I read a great talk by Elder Bednar this week about the Enabling power of the atonement and how the Atonement isnt just for those “bad” people or those people who commit more obvious sins. It is also for those people who are “good” people but are striving to be better. Through Jesus Christ I know that each of us can improve ourselves and better ourselves to be the best we can be. We shouldnt let ourselves be content with where we are because we can always be better. At those times when we get comfortable or content satan creeps in and when we think we are doing great is when a humbling experience along and we think “wait a minute i was doing so good!!” and then we may get offended or hard hearted but I know that if we are continually repenting and improving then we will always be prepared for those humbling times in our life when we are given the opprotunity to learn and grow. We’ve come to this earth to gain experience and learn from our mistakes. Thats why we chose the plan in the premortal existence where we could have free agency so we could become more like our Heavenly Father. And that is why we need a Savior and Redeemer. I’m so grateful for Jesus Christ and His Atonement. I know that through the Enabling Power of the Atonement we can all Sharpen ourselves and improve ourselves. “Good, better, best.” This week we had a great lesson with Muno. He’s been trying so hard to quit drinking and smoking and its been really hard for him. We shared with him the scripture Ether 12:27 and he loved it. I’m so glad I was prompted to share that scripture and as we bore testimony of the promise in that scripture that through the Atonement of Jesus Christ our Weak Things can be made Strong. Tears rolled down his face as he felt God’s perfect love embrace him. I testify that God knows us individually. He knows us by name. He knows our strengths and weaknesses. I know that through Jesus Christ our weak things can be made strong. I know that the Book of Mormon is the word of God and if we “feast” upon his words we will feel him speak to us. I testify that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is our Savior’s church restored on the earth again and that it was restored through another “insturment” in the Lord’s hands, the prophet joseph smith. I love this gospel(the good news of christ) and I love how God can speak to us through the scriptures. I’m so thankful to be apart of this Great and marvelous work. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Elder Nelson
proud
Written by lnelson on February 16th, 2010G’day Everyone! I hope everyone had a great Valentines Day full of love and all that good stuff that missionaries sacrafice for two years…not that I’m jealous or anything like that…ha. For those of you that are curious, Valentines Day is just the same here in Australia as it is in the States except people here seemed a little more cranky on valentines day.(maybe its because people need to start getting married instead of doing this whole “partner” thing). Well, I’m not gonna lie, this week has been really tough for Elder Bills and I. We had a lot of set backs. A few of our investigators decided it wasnt important that Jesus Christ’s church has been restored on the earth again and a couple others had some family problems that are keeping us from meeting with them. Its been a “trying” week. But, “Adversity makes you stronger” right? I dont know but thats what my mormon ad poster says in my bedroom so its gotta be true! Since heaps of our investigator’s teaching appointments have been put on hold for now we’ve been doing HEAPS of finding. That means GQing(golden questioning people on the streets) and Tracting(a missionaries favorite passtime :)) So we’ve been talking to anyone and everyone and we’ve had some GREAT talks with people this week but theres something I just dont understand, how can someone stop and listen to our message, hearing us bear sincere testimony to them and helping them to feel the spirit and then deny us coming over to tell them more about our message??? We taught a couple people this week full length lessons on the street(which never happens) and then when we ask”So when can we come by sometime to tell you more about this message we share?” They say “Ah mate I dont know mate, she be alright mate(which means in Aussie I’m not really interested). So frustrating….BUT we’re not only reapers, we’re sowers as well. BUT I LIKE REAPING! So anyways this week has been full of planting seeds and now as we continue to plant we are also waiting for some sprouts to form. I’ve learned so much this week and one thing I realized is that I really need to work on my christlike attributes(PMG ch.6) especially Patience. But all of our hard work and planting paid off this week in our lesson last night. We have an “eternal investigator”, as we call them, in our area her name is Maria Talorico. Her Husband and son are already members and she has been investigating the church for 6 years now and she knows its true but why hasnt she entered into the waters of baptism? Well thats what we went to find out. It turns out that Maria had a couple concerns about the church,which we resolved, and then she expressed that she feels she is not ready for baptism because she feels that Heavenly Father is dissappointed in her because of some things that she has done in her life. I think we can all relate to her. I know that I have had some times in my life that I have felt that Heavenly Father was very dissappointed in me but guess what! That is what is so beautiful about the Atonement! Its a beaut mate! We’ve been doing a strict study on the atonement this month as a mission because as missionaries our first part of our purpose is to invite others to come unto christ and thats the best thing about being a missionary. When we see someone grasp the atonement of jesus christ and His gospel and what exactly he sufferred for you can physically see their coutenance change. Its a beautiful thing! Its like the lightbulb when on above their head expect its the light of christ within them. I love Jesus Christ and his sacrafice for me and for all of us and for our Heavenly Father who truly loves us with a love incomprehensible to man. If we truly repent He will forgive us. I know the other thing Maria is struggling with is forgiving herself and thats the hardest part I think. We must all forgive ourselves so we continue on our path, progress and become more christlike. If we refuse to forgive ourselves we are holding ourselves back from a lot of blessings that are just waiting there for us. As the scriptures say, Jesus Christ always has his hands reaching out to us. In Maria’s case she is holding herself back from the blessings of being baptised. Thats a lot of blessings! We helped her to realize this and we understand that its a step of faith for her but it will be a step through the gate of baptism on the path to eternal life. It was a great talk and we will be working with her to help her to enter into the waters of baptism to receive a remission of her sins on the 13 of March. (FINGERS CROSSED). We’ll praying and fasting for her. I love being a missionary and all that I am learning. I know that God and Jesus Christ live. President Scruggs said something this past week that has been echoing in my head ever since I heard it “When we want to talk to God we pray and when we want God to talk to us we read the scriptures.” I know that this is true. Dont hold yourself back from recieving those blessings from reading your scriptures. I know that they are true and they are God’s word. Hold to the rod, the iron rod, tis strong and bright and TRUE the iron rod is the WORD OF GOD twill safely GUIDE us through. Love ya heaps! Cheers as mate.
Elder Nelson
Mum, THANK YOU FOR THE PACKAGE!!! IT was AWESOME!!! I made some puppy chow yesterday! A-MAZING! I LOVED THE pics! tell bryce he isnt allowed to get any bigger and neither is stephen. Tell them I love them and that I am so proud of them. Good on ya stephen for spending more time with bryce. I worry about you both but I’m so glad that my family is growing closer. I miss you all so much. I think about you all the time. KEEP the faith! Man tell Derek I miss him heaps! He is the man. I really look up to that guy. I miss our talks haha. He’s the man. No I cant believe my b-day is this week and I’m turning 20…weird! But I also cant believe adam’s almost been out for a year. I miss that guy too! HEAPS! Alright well I love you all. I dont really need anything mum except I can never get enough letters. Its been great but If anyone wants to write me dont turn them down! Well I really gotta go! Peace as!
Mono (Moe No) Pupuke
Written by lnelson on February 7th, 2010G’Day Blokes and Sheila’s,
My new companion is Elder Bills from Orem, Utah. He’s been out for about 21 months so he goes home in two transfers. Lame! That’ll go by really fast so I’ll have to use all I can get out of him while he’s still here. He’s an awesome missionary there’s a lot I have to learn from him. Man, I’ve been SO lucky with my companions. We get along pretty well. He’s a bit quieter than Elder Modlik and I miss E modlik heaps but I get to see him whenever we have Zone Leader Councils. I really have to step it up now with new responsibility but so far its been a good challenge. We had Zone Leader Council at the beginning of this week and man President Scruggs sure is a busy man. He does SO much for us. Its really opened my eyes about how much bishops and stake presidents and mission presidents,etc, have to do to make sure things are getting done. We’re all in the work of saving souls thats for sure. I’ve also learned the importance of Home Teaching and Visiting teaching and other callings. Every member’s calling is important. I hope all of you will make sure that you are “magnifying your calling” and finding ways to serve those around you. Elder Bills popped our tire when we got to presidents house for the meeting lol. He ran over the curb where the drain is. Elder Modlik and Goodrich put on a new one for us though so that was sweet as because we were busy busy busy. Anyways so this past week was great! Elder BIlls and I have gotten to know each other a bit better and we’ve been working hard. A couple of our days were completely taken up with meetings but we still found a way to meet almost all of our goals. That was a miracle to me because the Lord really does provide a way. We are struggling at the moment to find new people to teach though. I dont get it. A couple of times this week we sat there and taught someone, as soon as we met them, and they still didnt want to meet with us to learn more. They felt the spirit I know they did but they still werent interested in learning more. My prayers lately have been mostly focused on softening the hearts of the people in our area. But even in these times of adversity the words from Elder Holland’s talk bring me great comfort. He says “Why should it be easy for us? When it wasnt easy for Him(speaking of Jesus Christ and His Atonement). When we are struggling and facing all types of persecution, know that you are standing shoulder to shoulder with the greatest missionary to ever walk this earth. He never said it would be easy. Salvation should require something of our souls.” I paraphrased a lot but its a great talk from Elder Holland when he spoke at the new Mission Presidents seminar. You should look it up. But! Elder Bills and I are doing great! We have so much good going on right now. We met with Mono again this week and taught him the Word of Wisdom since he has a smoking and drinking problem. We also gave him this 7day program that president scruggs gave to us to help him quit smoking. He accepted our commitment and we took anything and everything that would make him want a smoke. On sunday we were a bit discouraged when he didnt come to church but we found out from his wife it was because he was having withdrawals. I’ve never been so happy to hear about somebody having withdrawals! lol. Anyways we went and saw him last night and he was still having some bad withdrawals but we gave him a blessing and read a little from the Book of Mormon and by the time we left he said he felt heaps better. Having the opprotunity to teach Mono has been the greatese experience so far. He’s a strong man from the Cook Islands and he doesnt speak english very well but he wants to be better and he’s doing everything he can to do that. Its been so humbling to see. Teaching him has been a great experience as well since I have to filter everything I say so he can understand. Its been strengthening my testimony while I’ve been teaching him the basic principles of the Gospel. Its also been so touching to feel God’s strong love for him and Heavenly Fathers desire for Mono’s happiness. I know God loves each and every one of us. INDIVIDUALLY! I love this Gospel and how it blesses lives. Through it we can recieve a fulness of joy as the scriptures say. I love being a missionary and being able to witness these great miracles. The rest of our week has been pretty good but Mono was definitely the highlight. I’ll have to go for now but I love you all. Answer someones prayers this week! We are all instruments in the hands of the Lord to answer the prayers of those around us. Listen and follow the spirit to find someone you can serve this week. I promise you if this is the desire of your hearts that you will see miracles and you will be an instrument in the Lords loving hands to answer someone’s prayer. Miss you all heaps! The church is true! I know it is! Jesus Christ LOVES YOU! HEAPS!!! Cheers as!
Elder Nelson
Transfers!
Written by lnelson on February 1st, 2010G’day Blokes and Sheila’s
Well this past week was great! We had a baptism! Akanesi Vaipulu got baptized by her grandpa Viliami Vaipulu and it was such a great baptism. Since we asked Sis Wolfgramm(primary president), who is also the ward chorister, to give a talk on the holy ghost I had to conduct the music and I was up there just writing my name in the air and having a good ol time while everyone laughed haha okay it wasnt that bad but that was the first time I’ve ever conducted the music in front of a ward. So the baptism was sweet as. The Lord has blessed us so much in this area. But there’s just one thing…did I die and go to hell?? Lol no but seriously its so flippin HOT!! We take our morning showers and get out and dry ourselves and dry, and dry and dry and dry and wait a second…I’m getting more wet! What the heck?? Its so humid! We’re just always wet! So basically we havent been walking around dee Why we’ve been swimming(I thought that it was against the rules to swim). Anyways I just wanted you to realize how ridiculous it is. So BIG NEWS! We found out this week that by July 1, when President Scruggs goes home :(, the Australia Sydney North Mission will no longer exist….Neither will the Sydney South mission….we will be combined into the AUSTRALIA SYDNEY MISSION!! holy dang…..thats crazy. So that basically just blew our minds when we found that out and there is a huge rivalry between NORTH and SOuth. ITs gonna be hectic! but exciting! There will be twice as many areas and companionships in the mission! I can go across the Harbour Bridge! Sweet as mate. Well more big news! Transfers are here! and guess what!! I’m not moving! yessss lol. But, Sadly, Elder Modlik is. I’m gonna miss that guy so much. I’ve had so many good times and great missionary experiences with him. I know we will be good friends for the rest of our missions and after. I’m still going to New Zealand. Elder Modlik will be going to Hebersham stake(my last stake) and he will be companions with Elder Goodrich, a beast of a man from St. George. They will be the Hebersham Zone Leaders. Crazy eh? He’s gonna make such a great Zone Leader. He’s seriously the best missionary I’ve ever met. My new companion is Elder Bills. I’ve heard a lot of great things about him from ELder Dean and Elder Summers. They’ve both served around him. I hear he’s a bit of a legend himself. Elder Bills and I will be the Greenwich Zone Leaders. I’m pretty nervous but Elder Bills has been Zone Leader twice now I think so he will be able to show me the ropes. Keep me in your prayers please! I know I will be on my knees a lot this next month. 16 missionaries are going home this transfer. and 16 are coming in. Even more are coming in the next two transfers so the mission will be pretty “green” in the next couple of months. Heaps of people are training. Its kinda like that analogy of the grape vine that president gave: “Sometimes a grape vine that brings about good fruit needs
to be cut back so it can bring about great fruit”(basically what he said in a nutshell). So many great missionaries are going home honorably. It sure is a priviledge to be serving in this mission. Next week I’ll give you an update on everything. Elder Bills and I really need to find some more people to teach. We’ve had to drop some people this week which was really hard but our focus needs to be elsewhere and we need to find the people that I know the Lord has prepared for us to teach and baptize here in Dee Why. I love you all heaps and I hope everything is going well. Look for those opprotunities to spread the gospel and when you do have those experiences share them with others so you can spread the “missionary bug” around. Spread the BUG! Create an epidemic! lol I hope thats okay to say.
Cheers!
Elder Nelson
Mum, so its all good about the syrup dont worry about it. Dr. Brent probably wouldnt be able to call us but if you let me know time and place I can probably meet him there. I’m gonna be really busy in these next few weeks so let me know. Keep working and praying for Patti! Your doing a great job! Tell stephen I love him and to make the most of the decision he made. Btw I got a letter from Courtney Newbold it was so nice(unless she’s just trying to brown nose to get with my brother) lol. I hope bryce did well on his tryouts! What happened with basketball?? ASHLIE PIERCE IS GETTING MARRIED?? TO WHO!?? that is crazy business. Yeah keep sending everyones emails. I’ve mostly just been getting adams, nicoles and johnny’s but send me andrew’s too. How long has andrew been out? He’s just about done eh? Thanks for sending the recipes and pics! Dont worry about the wraps. I should be able to find some. There are heaps of asian stores here. I hope you get the job dad! You diligent, good looking man. Btw you cant flirt to convert with mum’s investigators it doesnt work that way LOl. Alright well I love you all heaps I gotta go! Ofu atu! P.S. Can you ask Gma Rose to send me some history about our family? We’ve been talking a lot about our history this past week and I realize I know nothing. I know I know thats my fault but now I wanna know okay?? Also could you send the folders that Gma Nelson made? Thanks heaps! k bye
Unshaken Faith
Written by lnelson on January 24th, 2010Hello’r Everyone!(when aussies say hello it sounds like they add a “r” at the end)
I had a great week this week! Lots of ups and downs but everytime there is adversity I always know there are blessings right around the corner. “There must be opposition in all things”(2Nephi 2). We started off the week great we played some Rugby at the park on preparation day and Elder modlik broke his little toe but he’s tough and walked it off so its all good! It was swollen and purple and I had to cut it off but he doesnt need it anyway lol jk. Anyways so the middle of our week was great because we were teaching almost constantly! IT was sweet as mate! I love days where we are teaching consistently. Usually we’ll have a few empty days where mostly we’ll just be finding all day but on wednesday we taught all day and it was sweet as. We have a few investigators that are progressing so well its so exciting and Akanisi will be getting baptised this week! yay! Her family is still coming to church each week and I can see how happy it makes her its really cool. When we went to teach Akanisi this week ELder Modlik and I sat down to dinner and they just piled the table with food. We had just stopped at a members house and they insisted we eat some food so we were already full but the Vaipulu’s gave us a plate full of chop suey and taro and then they put prawns and Ota(raw fish soup stuff its delicious) and Otai(watermelon drink/celestial nectar) and chicken. We tried our best to eat that but I was so full and I looked at Elder Modlik with that deer in the head lights look and I was just thinking “This is it…this is how I’m going to die….death by tongan food” lol nah but thats not all. Akanisi made us a chocolate cake and she looked at us with those sweet little 9 yr old eyes that said “If you dont eat my cake I wont get baptised so of course we ate it” I made sure to serve the cake and Ice cream because I gave ELder modlik massive pieces. WAHAHA! It was a really funny night. I must’ve almost spewed like 3 or 4 times. Towards the end of our week things started to get a little harder because we decided to go see a lot of less actives and it was really spiritually draining. So many members have lost their faith that GOd is even there. It was really sad and Elder Modlik and I did our best to testify of God’s love for them and his desire for their happiness. With everyone we tried to commit them to do the basics. Their faith has been shaken but they have neglected to do the basics. Hold to the rod, the word of God. We have to read our scriptures and have our hearts continually in prayer to our heavenly father for his grace and mercy. It says in the scriptures that Jesus Christ always has his hands stretched out for us but how many times do we not reach out for his? In Jacob 4:6 It says we must search the prophets or in other words read the scriptures because the scriptures are the words of the prophets, the words of christ and it says that if we do we will obtain a hope and our faith becometh unshaken. I hope we all strive to have that faith unshaken. God is there and he loves us. After that day the rest of the week seemed to be a little more draining becuase we werent able to find any new investigators but yesterday we found two! Blessings! One of our new investigators, Olive, has been coming to church for awhile and we thought she was a member and I guess she’s been taught by missionaries before but we didnt know about her until this past week and I had the opprounity to bless her and it was an awesome lesson! She already knows this church is true and she said she knows she wants to raise her children in this church. Its harder for her because her partner is a less active member but we’re working with both of them and we have high hopes so stay tuned! One funny story: So we’re pretty close to the Teaupa family and most of them were on holiday in Tonga and their daughter is our age and she’s pretty so anyways they came back and we went to say hi and we were like “hey Katrina how was your holiday and Elder modlik went to say you look really pretty lol but he realized it was inappropriate so he said “you look really prrr…brrrown!” hahahahahaha it was hilarious I was dying. She was like uhhh thanks? lol good times. Have a great week! The church is true and You are a child of GOd! you have divine potential! Cheers as mate!
Elder Nelson
Top Sheila, haha how ya going mum? That would be sweet if I got to meet Dr. Brent. Keep me updated on that. Tell dad the Queen song was so funny but I dont know If I could sing it to the members because first of all I cant sing like Freddie Mercury and second of all I dont really remember exactly how to sing it but I will try. Dr. Brent wasnt that guy that was at Aunt Dana’s daughter’s wedding was it? Whats her name again? dont tell her I forgot! Btw when are you sending me more pics? DId you get all my requests from two weeks ago for recipes? How do I make muddie buddies? If you dont know can you ask the hogges? How do I make frosting for cake? How do I make those good empanada things that you used to make with the plum sauce? I need some more recipes! Good on ya keeping Patti close. She’ll come to church eventually and she’ll definitely come if she makes some more friends from church. Dont be afraid to invite her to anything! Especially church! Or FHE. It doesnt matter if stephen or bryce are killing each other she will enjoy it! Its good for people to know you take time out of your week just to spend time with your family. Keep up the good work mum. PRay! God will give you the inspiration you need. I will pray but I can only recieve inspiration for my investigators and my area(straight from Prez Scruggs). Stephen I know your really struggling with this choice. I had the same struggle with choosing between basketball and choir. I think everyone gets to this point and I’m so glad that you fasted and prayed about it. I know Heavenly Father is really pleased with you. I just want you to know that Heavenly Father can guide our choices but we all have our free agency. If you make the choice that makes the most sense in your head and you feel good about then you probably made the right choice because thats the Lord answers our prayers but sometimes God just says, its up to you. Sometimes both ways could have positive outcomes its just up to you. Our free agency is a gift we were given from the beginning and we have it so we can learn and grow and gain experience in this life. God will be behind you in your righteous choices and he will bless you if you have trust in him. Dont let this stress you too much. Have the future in mind and an Eternal perspective but do what you want to do. Be of good cheer!:). Mum, dont worry..I wore my missionary clothes all Monday, Tuesday AND FRiday! so no worries mate! lol jk I’m being obedient. But I cant give up the coke sorry bout it. Anways I really gotta go. Bryce! I’m glad you got email! Keep me updated! Oh yeah I’m giving a talk on sunday about how the youth can prepare for their missions and the blessings I’ve seen from my mission(I feel like I’m giving my homecoming talk lol) Keep me in your prayers! Love ya heaps! Good on ya for doing Gma Emily’s work! Until next week! FA!
January 18, 2009 KISS-keep it simple stupid
Written by lnelson on January 18th, 2010G’day Everyone!
This month has been so great so far. Its been a great start to 2010. Now I just gotta try to keep up the momentum. This past week we went to our investigator Akanisi and taught her the plan of salvation as simply as we could since she is only 9 but it went so well. I love teaching children about God’s great plan of happiness and the world changing message of the restoration. I love it because when I teach that simply I always feel the spirit and I can feel God’s love for these children. I can feel how important it is to him that these things are made known unto all of his children. The gospel of Jesus Christ and God’s plan really is simple. We’ve come to this earth to prepare to meet God and to become more like him. This life is a test but its an open book test. We have the scriptures and the prophets from old until now telling us exactly what we need to do to prepare to meet God one day. And to prepare for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. Akanisi is going to get baptized on the 30th so thats really exciting! And almost more exciting than that is her dad has been coming to church every week since we first met with them and he hasnt been to church in over 20 years! wow. It just shows that its never too late to repent and improve ourselves and see blessings because of our repentance. (Alma 32:13&16 REad it!). Lately I’ve been focusing on continually repenting myself as the sons of mosiah did as they were missionaries among the lamanities and I’ve felt a lot more receptive to the spirit in my daily work. Its His work and its going to be done His way so the only way we can do that is to follow the promptings of the Holy Ghost. We had Interviews yesterday thats why I’m emailing today and it was so awesome! President Scruggs is THE MAN! I had a great interview with him. He said that I will probably be in this area with Elder Modlik for awhile but I guess nothing is really certain. There’s just so much good going on right now! We also have to get ready because more than half the mission will be going home over the course of the next few months so we will have HEAPS of new missionaries so Elder Modlik and I will even be “old” compared to the other missionaries before we even reach our year mark. Its going to be crazy! But exciting too because with each new generation of missionaries God has assigned each and every one of us for a purpose and it seems like each new wave of missionaries is better and better. So, basically stephen and bryce should be flying around baptising people just by looking at them by the time they go on their missions haha…but serious. Being a missionary is the greatest blessing and thank you so much to those of you who are looking over my family. I hope God drowns you in blessings haha. So when was the last time you had the missionaries over? Gave them a feed or, even more importantly, someone to teach? I love you all heaps and I wish you the best in all your missionary efforts! Cheers as mate!
Elder Nelson
Mum, WAY TO GO DOING YO MISSIONARY THANG! I can tell you are feeling that spirit of missionary work burning inside of you. Dont let the fire go out! Keep it going! and spread it! Set the whole ward on fire! If you know what I mean. I’m so happy for you. How are fhe’s going? When was the last time you had the missionaries over? Have them over often especially for my brothers! :). Buzz kill as. I cant believe you didnt get to hear my song. Well I guess you’ll just have to wait 17 months! Sorry charlie :). Its amazing how blessed we’ve been lately. I’m loving it! Let’s all make sure we’re all worthy of those blessings. Send Mrs. Buttersworth! mmm. Yeh cereal would be awesome. Rees’s puffs and cinnamon toast crunch and trix and all my favorites, the ones you would never buy me lol. I’m sweet as with clothes right now. No worries mate. His family did send me that shirt. Its choice as!(as E modlik would say) He would LOVE a shirt! Send him anything! Something really american but take stephen because he has good fashion sense…oh i mean…uhh….awkward. lol (Stephen, please go with mum). He loves sports stuff too so like even an american football or a jersey of some kind. Idk just giving you options but a t shirt would be great. Well gotta go. Love ya heaps! Keep it up! Dont let yourself get too stressed mum 
be happy:) Everyone loves it when your happy :). Tell stephen and bryce I love them and that I hope their being good. K cya lata!
January 11, 2010 You betta check yourself before you wreck yourself
Written by lnelson on January 12th, 2010Elder Michael Nelson
Sydney North Australia MIssion
P.O. Box 2723
Carlingfor Ct NSW 2118
Austrailia
G’day Everyone!
I hope everyone had a great week this week! Some of our investigators still need to get back from the holidays but we had some great lessons this week. Our bishop pointed our attention to a family that had gone less active over the years but they had a daughter that needed to be baptised so we visited with them and had a great meeting with their family. They are such a strong family and its amazing how well satan really knows us. He is our brother in the spirit. Dont let him cloud your vision and your goal of eternal life. He will do ANYTHING to lead you off the strait and narrow path. Satan will lead us CAREFULLY down to hell. Repenting always and praying continually for God’s mercy will protect us from those decieving paths off the strait and narrow. The lesson with their family was great and they want their daughter to be baptised! Blessings! So Elder Modlik and I have the great blessing of teaching her and her family the lessons and helping to progress towards baptism, the first step to eternal life. I also really liked what President Scruggs said about the importance of the ordinances. Baptism is just the gate and those who have been baptised are just sitting on the front lawn. We need to help them get to the house(Temple). The temple is so important. I had the opprotunity to go to the temple today and I always feel like my spiritual batteries are on like turbo power after I come out. Anyways so E Modlik’s friend from New Zealand was in town and we got to hang out with him yesterday for a couple hours because we got permission and that was really cool just hanging out with a couple of kiwis. Dan(Modlik’s friend) does tricking so he was busting backflips all over the place. It was sweet as! and then I got attacked by a big spider so that wasnt sweet as! I’m alright but it was crawling up my arm and screamed like a girl. There are spiders everywhere here! Okay well I gotta go. Sorry If I was all over the place today. There were so many different topcis I wanted to touch on at once. Bottom line the church is true and I love you all heaps! Cheers!
Elder Nelson
( ON A PERSONAL NOTE)
Hey Mum,
So i better answer your questions and everything now because I dont have much time. I just got back from the temple today, if your wondering why I’m emailing on tuesday. okay so first of all can you send me some recipes? Gpa’s apple pie recipe again please, sorry and muddies buddies(puppy chow, ya know with the chex and chocolate) and your empanada things and how to make your frosting for cakes and fried bread(just look it up please) and yeah anything else I should bake or cook or whatever. did you get my pics and cd yet? Did katie j go back to school because I’m writing her back but i dont know where to send it. For the Valentines/Birthday package I have just a couple requests. Log Cabin syrup lol if you send it please PLEASE make sure it is more than secure and maybe some herdez but in a different container. Also, pictures and testimonies and um i dont know suprise me. Dad, thanks for telling me about your mission thats so awesome and good on ya for turning down the girls. You were just a tall sexy white man plus a missionary. I havent had to do that so its all good in the hood. Your a legend! Thats crazy you baptised like 200 a month. On average we baptise about 30 a month. Bryce! Do yo thang for your basketball game! Dunk it! Stephen good on ya for the play. Its probably not in your comfort zone but hey it wasnt in mine when I first started. Just dont be afraid to be the stephen I know and dont be afraid to look like a complete bloody idiot lol(bloody isnt a bad word here…thats the british). Sophia, Thanks for writing! Your my favorite sibling! lol (but seriously). Keep it up! Your a spiritual giant and thank you for being a good example to my family with the missionary work. Show em how its done! If you want a head start on being a missionary study PMG. Okay on to my weekly letter…
A Teaching Missionary is a Happy Missionary
Written by lnelson on January 3rd, 2010G’day everyone!
I hope everyone had a great new years! Elder Modlik and I went to Coles(grocery store here) and bought sparkling grape juice, sparklers and glo sticks lol. We were determined to stay up to midnight so we could have a proper new years with the count down and everything but we do have a curfew so we got to the flat at nine and I decided to wait in my bed for midnight to roll around and that was a really bad idea because I was really tired. So, I ended up falling asleep and E. Modlik woke me up right after I fell asleep and handed me a glass of sparkling grape juice and said we needed to at least toast 2009 so we did and said happy new year! without hardly any excitment and expression and then went to sleep lol. Yup…good times. People are party animals here! Everywhere we went we saw parties going on and people dressed up really fancy walking around the city. It was crazy business. Also at about 2am we woke up to a war going on outside of sparkler bombs. It was ridiculous! anyways that was our new years experience. It was different but still one to remember. One thing that E. MOdlik and I decided to do for our new years resolution focusing on eating better and having a good workout every morning and E modlik has got me on this healthy diet and you all know how much I love healthy food….bleh..but its been really good so far so I’ll have to update you on our progress…or lack of. We’ve made a lot of other goals too. Our mission president is really stressing on us to be continually improving which is really good so I’ve made some goals on my studies that I hope will help me to be a man of “sound understanding” like the sons of mosiah. So this past week was a bit slower because of new years but still really good! We miss some of our investigators because they are still on holiday but they are coming home this week so we’re excited to help them to progress. We actually haven’t had too many teaching opprotunities lately and we’ve been pretty bummed about that. “A teaching missionary is a happy missionary.” But, our prayers were answered yesterday at church when Bro. Mokofisi came up to us and said “Elders, my 5 neices are in town and they decided to come to church today. You will teach them tonight at my house at 7 o clock. You will teach them the message of restoration.” We were like SWEET AS! So last night we went over to the Mokofisi’s and taught a household of girls about the restored gospel. Blessings from the Lord lol. No but really it was an amazing experience. We were planning on teaching them with our buckets that we made to show exactly how the apostasy and restoration happened(Its a pyramid of buckets that all have a principle or point that makes us jesus christ’s church, its really cool) we even did a role play but when we got there we realized we had forgotten them….uhhhh yup so we just followed the spirit and went on with the lesson. These girls were all raised Methodist but they asked such great questions and were so willingly to learn about the church. I could feel the spirit there so strong from the beginning and then when we got to the First Vision…oh man! It hit me like a brick wall. I love that the spirit will witness to you again and again and again that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that God and Jesus Christ did in fact appear to him. Through Jospeh, Jesus Christ restored his church that was once lost and his doctrine that had been corrupted. That testimony is even more cemented everytime I learn and grow as I study the Book of Mormon. I know the Book of Mormon is the word of God. Joseph Smith could not have made it up! After we taught the lesson the girls asked heaps of questions and with the help of Bro. Mokofisi we answered them all and I could tell that the girls really liked what they heard. They said that all their life they have heard that we’re a bad church and we believe this and that but when they had heard it for themselves they really liked what they were hearing. We have nothing to hide in this church. We have the truth. All the truth. I wonder how many people out there want to hear about the church for themselves but are too scared to ask. They want to know about what they’ve heard we believe is true or not. Thats why its our duty to invite them to hear the special message that we share. Its their choice what to do with that invitation. Well I love you all heaps and I hope 2010 started off on the right foot. It started pretty good for me so I’m excited for this year. Diligence is definitely a christlike attribute that I will be focusing on. Cheers!
Elder Nelson
December 27, 2009 2010……AS!
Written by lnelson on January 2nd, 2010G’day Everyone! I hope everyone had a wonderful christmas and they were able to give some type of gift to our Savior and Redeemer this year. Mike Thompson got baptised on wednesday! WOO! It was so awesome. Probably one of the best baptisms I’ve been too. I think it was because we could see how happy his wife Melodie was and also she sang and she’s a professional singer so that was sweet as. Also Mike told us that he cant wait for the day that he can take Melodie to the temple. Its such a blessing to be an instrument in the hands of the Lord and to be able to witness such miracles in peoples lives. Its very humbling. Melodie has to go back to work in LA on tuesday and eventually Mike will be moving there too so I’ll definitely have to look them up when I go back to Cali. Well I pretty much felt at home this christmas because the weather completely changed on Christmas Eve. Its been so hot lately we’re just sweating constantly, but on Christmas Eve it started raining and its been raining off and on ever since. The temp also dropped almost 20 degrees too so it feels like its almost winter. I love it! but….I think I got sick because of the change in the weather because yesterday I pretty much puked up my guts….yup. But I feel much better today so its all good! Anyways I’m so excited for this new year and it looks like our mission reached our goal. I’m not 100% positive yet though so I’ll give you the official “Okay, GO” for party time next week. Our mission had the best month we’ve had in years, this month, with 40 baptisms. AMAZING!! blessings as. Heavenly Father wanted to see this goal reached just as badly as we did. I’m so blessed to be a servant in the lord’s vineyard in this area of the work at this time. So many great things are happening and it can only get better! We may have to work harder but I have high hopes for 2010! Elder Modlik and I were talking about it and every missionary has “His” year. For us its 2010 because we’ll be here for the whole year and its so exciting. Its so great to feel like you are getting a fresh start and that was one really strong feeling I had when I first started my mission. Now with 2010 its time to set new goals and make some changes so that I can be the instrument that heavenly father wants me to be. I know I always talk about being an instrument and If you will do me a favor so I dont sound so crazy. Read Alma 26. Just read the whole story of the Sons of Mosiah. They are studs. Or Skukky as guys as Elder Modlik would say. Well love ya heaps and I’d like to encourage you to make some missionary goals for this next year. Find someone you can give a Book of Mormon to or invite them to family home evening or invite them to church or to an activity or to dinner so they can feel the special spirit in your home. Give them a church dvd. Refer them to the missionaries or share your testimony with them. There are many many ways we can share the gospel with those around us. Sometimes it takes a lot of faith but from faith, miracles are wrought. I love this work. “The coming of the Lord is nigh” and there is plenty of work to be done. For Elder Modlik and I 2010 will be the year that we will remember for the rest of our lives. Why can’t it be the same for you? You never know, you could see one of your closest non member friends enter into the waters of baptism, receive a remission of their sins, recieve the Holy Ghost and enter onto the pathway to Eternal Life. Miss you all heaps! Cheers!
Elder Nelson