Another Slow Week

Dear All,

So this last week was another slow week. Haven't heard from Tarry at all and Michael isn't making any progression. All of our other investigators aren't progressing either. I'm still doing my best not to get discouraged though. I actually had a good spirit lifting experience yesterday night. Yesterday was super slow, no one was home and we only got a lesson in with Michael, which is almost always the same thing every time. But last night, right before the day was about to the end, we went and tried someone named Jeremy, who is a preacher at the Harvest Christian church. He is super nice and super chill too! My companion found him before I got here and we haven't really been able to talk with him since I've been here. He said he read the cover of the Book of Mormon and had some questions. I'm glad we were there to answer them because he was afraid that we believed Joseph Smith to be like Jesus Christ. We explained to him that wasn't even close to the case and we talked a little more. He expressed to us that he feels that the "church" (I think he was referring to church in general) doesn't push living a holy life enough. He said that most preachers preach one thing about God, that He is either super Loving, or he is super judging. We had a good conversation on commandments and how there is a balance between the love and hatred toward sin of God. I feel that he is a lot of potential! He wants to follow God and Jesus Christ to the best of his ability and he recognized God in almost everything that happens in his life, which is amazing! It really made me thing of our members, and how there are times when we forget to recognize Him in our lives.

Well, I hope everyone is doing awesome! I'm loving the mission and enjoying the work. I love you all and hope to hear from you. Keep up the good work and don't forget who you are and where everything in your life is from.

With tender love and care,
Ofa atu,
Elder Timmy Nelson

Another Slow Week

Dear All,

So this past week was another slow week! Only had two lessons with investigators and bother were with the same person. His name is Michael. Michael has a big problem with the Word of Wisdom, with smoking and coffee. He always seems like he wants to quite, but he doesn't like the idea of just stopping. He wants to "slow down" and eventually stop. I've been trying to help him realize that that usually doesn't work. It's been kind of rough, but he always likes having us over and he always seems like he has that desire to follow Christ.

In other news, I have been using my bike as transportation every other day, and it wears me down so a lot! I'm so sore, but that's good! It will get me back into shape. My companion still doesn't like how we are riding bike, which is weird because that's his thing, mountain biking, but I love it. I'm especially thankful for it because the other day we were actually riding and someone saw us and told us his friend wanted to talk to us. It was pretty cool! Hopefully that ends well! But yeah.

Still haven't heard anything from Tarry and Saine still hasn't made it to church. I'm a little sad, but I'm not discouraged. Sad because they aren't progressing, but I still know that, with faith, we can bring them closer to Christ.

I hope everyone is doing well! Never forget to read and pray! I finished the Book of Mormon about a month ago or so and now I am reading in D&C and I'm loving it! Never forget the love that your Heavenly Father has for you! Never forget the sacrifice Jesus Christ went through for you specifically. I love you all!

With tender love and care,
Ofa atu,
Elder Timmy Nelson

Mission News

Dear all,

Hey! So pretty much this past week was a little school, but it wasn't all bad. Investigator wise nothing from Tarry or anyone else. We are in a car share now, so I had to get a bike. I actually like riding the bike, because it helps me stay more in shape. My companion isn't happy at all about the car share, but I see it as a blessing. I want to bike more often, even if we have a car, but I don't get much a say in things since I'm the junior companion.

Elder To'ofohe is gone, but we have Elder Benson now! He is pretty awesome and very nice. He's funny and seems like he likes to work.

Well, sorry I don't have much for this week, but I will hopefully have more for next week! I love you all and love to hear form people! Hope everyone is doing well and doing those things that bring them close to Christ. You won't find a greater joy in anything else, that's a promise. Until next week!

With tender love and care,
Ofa atu,
Elder Timmy Nelson

First Transfer

Dear All,

So this is my first transfer week of my mission. My companion and I are staying in North Platte, so no address change at all. However Elder To'ofohe is being transferred. I'm sure going to miss him, but I'll see him at Zone conferences and such every now and then. I'm just going to miss having him here to make me laugh and such. He has always been so caring and giving to me since the moment I got here.

As for my spiritual experience of the week, this weeks edition is going to focus on an investigator named Saine. Saine's story started since before I got here. Elder Hollingworth (my trainer) and Elder Body (his trainer) found him walking around with a cane one day. They talked to him and he said one day he woke up and he couldn't use half of his body and turns out he had a stroke. Saine is from another country and speaks very poor English. Well they asked Saine if he wanted a blessing and if he had the faith to be healed and he said yes. They gave him a blessing and within a week later he was walking without a cane. When I got here we talked to him and he wanted an Arabic Book of Mormon so he could read it better. We ordered it and it ended up taking forever to come in the mail. By the time we got it we went to his apartment and he had moved. The own of the apartments had no clue where he was, only that he stilled lived in North Platte. It seemed as though we would never see him again, but for some reason I had the feeling that I shouldn't worry about it. Well about two days later we are driving and we see him and his car at the park. We gave him the book and he asked us how we found him and we said we were just driving and he thanked us like a hundred times and instantly thanked God for sending us. It was really powerful to have Heavenly Father place us in the right place at the right time to find him. There is no way we could have found him without the help from our Father in Heaven.

I hope to find everyone doing well! I love the work and will continue to do my best out here! May everyone desire to come closer unto Christ! I love you all! And I love all the letters and emails I get from everyone!

With tender love and care,
Elder Timmy Nelson

P.S. my next p-day is next Monday, so y"all might be getting an even shorter email then. But who knows! Haha