Called to Serve

Called to Serve

Monday, May 19, 2014

I'm Not Getting Transferred

Well there you have it.  I'm staying in West Hills for at least one more transfer.  I'm getting a new companion though which is sad.  Elder Smith has been awesome.  I think I'll be getting a harder companion this coming transfer because all of my companions have just been great!  I don't find out till tomorrow at transfer meeting. 
 
This week was another interesting week.  We weren't able to teach Marisa this week, but she had a huge miracle!  All week she felt like she had to go to this womens conference for our stake.  She knew that she had to go and was kind of freaking out because she didn't have a ride.  We got her a ride and she loved the conference.  We weren't there obviously, but the ASL Sisters were.  After the conference, marisa started to ask them about baptism.  The sisters talked to her about it and asked bishop to open the baptismal font to show Marisa.  By the time they were done showing her the font, marisa told them that she wants to be baptized!  So amazing!  She's been reading and praying and coming to church now for a couple weeks and she got her answer that this is true and that this is what God wants for her and her son Isaiah!  We went over to her apartment to talk to her Saturday afternoon.  She answered the door and she told us that she talked to the bishop about baptism.  She was super casual about it.  She only got like an hour of sleep the night before so it was understandable.  She was so excited at church yesterday though!  She found out that Elder Smith was being transferred and she asked us if she could get baptized today before he left.  We explained to her that it would be possible, but that it's not the best idea.  She agreed and we're going to set a baptismal date with her and Isaiah tonight!  They are so amazing!  We still have to teach Isaiah all the lessons, but we're probably going to set the date for next weekend, because she wants to be baptized as soon as possible.  She also needs to be interviewed by president for baptism because she told us about her life in New York and about growing up in the projects and such.  It's going to be awesome though!  Her prayers have been answered!  The ward is working so well with her too!  She's made so many friends and she loves the people.  They love her too!  It's so cool to see the spirit work in people! 
 
So that Marisa was the major miracle of the week.  We had a zone conference on Tuesday which was awesome!  I learned a ton!  on Wednesday, we had Marvin Perkins teach us about blacks and the Priesthood.  He's an expert on the doctrine of the priesthood and black people being in the scriptures and what not.  It was pretty cool, but some of his views were not the best.  I learned a lot though.  He gives firesides all around the world and does a lot of things for the church.  He's part of the black fellowshipping group for the church called Genesis.  It's interesting.  Jane Choy might be able to come to church this week!  She's going to go to downtown LA to renew her Access Card (Non-emergency medical transport) on Wednesday.  Hopefully she gets approved.  If she does, she'll be able to come to church and be baptized!  The rest of the week was a pretty frustrating, as always, but that's missionary work for ya.  Especially in West Hills!  Good things are happening and hopefully I get another good companion tomorrow!  
 
Love ya!
 
Elder Nelson 

Corn!

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The After Skype Letter

So skyping was totally awesome!  So good to see you guys!  So I don't remember if I told you or not, but nothing much has changed this week.  The ward is getting better at coming out with us and we had 3 of our investigators come to church which was awesome.  I told you that we have zone conference tomorrow and how I'm super excited for it.  What haven't I told you about!?  Oh ya transfers are next week!  ... wait I told you that too.  We did find 2 new investigators this week!  Rafael and Abel.  We met Abel street contacting and he told us to come back the next day.  We went back and taught him and his Dad the Restoration.  It was a great lesson.  Like I told you yesterday, Elder Smith and I are teaching so well together.  I love it!  I think he's going to be transferred out next week though, but ya never know!  Yesterday in Sacrament meeting, Elder Smith (black smith) and I sang a musical number.  It was awesome!  We made a ton of old people cry!  Our investigators are doing alright like I told you yesterday.  It's hard to get in contact with them and a lot of them are falling off the radar.  While that's sad and all, it just means that we have to find new, more solid investigators to teach.  That's basically it for this week!  It was just another week in the Canoga Playground!  (Canoga Park)  I love you all!

Elder Nelson

Monday, May 5, 2014

Bleh

What another great week in the West Hills ward. . . . Ok it wasn't that great, but it wasn't bad, just kind of bleh ya know?  This week was a little slower than usual, but it was alright.  We had some interesting times as always and frustrations with the ward as always, but what do ya do?  You keep on working!  I've found that just going out and talking to people makes everything better.  I love it!  We would spend about an hour or two a day calling members to try and get them to come out with us and we didn't get one this week.  We were a little flustered to say the least.  Almost all of our appointments fell through every day this week as well.  It was fun.  I guess that's what I get for praying for and working on patience and humility.  Like I always say though, we did everything we could.  I know the Lord is with us in this work and that everything goes according to his will.  That's part of humility.  It's not about what happens on the outside, but about what you change inside yourself to accept the will of the Lord and be happy with it, no matter what it is.  Humility is happiness.  That is what I've been studying and working on for the last two weeks in Preach My Gospel.  I could go on and on about it.  Anyways, that's so awesome that your studying Preach My Gospel mom!  It's so great and the principles in that book can be applied to any aspect of life.  Everyone needs to study it in depth!  Do it!  You will be blessed!  A prophet has said so! 
All right enough of my ranting, I'll tell you what happened this week.  Not too much happened this week actually.  We did service on Wednesday for Bro. Cobb.  We helped him clean out his garage which was a mess.  We were there for 5 hours!  The problem is... its still a mess, but its clean to him so I guess we did something!  Bro. Cobb is such an interesting guy.  I think I've told you his story before, but he's a landscaper and makes, buys and sells knives and swords and bows for a living.  it's pretty sweet.  He offered to teach us fencing classes, which would be so cool, but we don't have time.  The garage was just filled with junk that we moved out and then put back in, just more organized.  It took him so long to figure out what he wanted and didn't want.  It was good though.  He needed it.  What he really needs is home teachers.  Problem is that nobody does home teaching in this ward!  I love this ward though.  They really are great. They're just too comfortable.  That's the problem.  How can anyone become better or progress if they're comfortable?  They can't, and that's a fact!  Progression takes time and pain and sacrifice and it doesn't seem like the ward gets that.  It's ok though.  All I can do is love them and serve, and that's what I'm doing, and I will continue to do it!  Every single less active we teach needs fellowship from the ward though!  We've had a couple come to church, but they're still not coming regularly.  We just have to keep teaching them and building their testimonies.  Ok Ok, seriously, I'm done with my ranting.  Next thing that happened this week.  We taught our investigator Jane Choy again this week just like every week.  I think I've told you about her, but I'll tell you again.  The only thing that is stopping her from being baptized is coming to church.  She's confined to a wheel chair and doesn't have transportation to and from church.  We're working on getting Access (a non emergency medical transport) to come and pick her up.  She's paralyzed from the waste down and is on oxygen.  That'll be an interesting baptism.  She knows everything is true, she just needs to come to church.  We also taught a part member family this week.  The Bulman family.  Brian Bulman is the nonmember and is friends with all the major members of the ward.  He goes mountain biking with Bishop all the time.  We taught him the restoration and he agreed to start reading the Book of Mormon.  He's such an awesome guy and he's going to make a great member some day.  I'll be here for that day!  We also taught this black man in his 40's named Aaron.  He's super cool.  He's been searching for truth since he was 7.  He knows the bible really well and just wants to follow God.  He's super gangsta and produces music for a living.  Pretty sweet.  We also taught this man named Caeser.  He's got 3 kids and we found him last week.  He thought we were J-dubs (Jehovvahs Witnesses) and wanted to learn more about them, but he realized that we were Mormon and told us he wanted to learn more about us!  We taught him and the lesson was solid.  Matthew relapsed again this week.  We gave him a blessing yesterday.  We made a schedule for the day with him and told him that if he followed it, he wouldn't relapse.  He called us this morning and he hasn't been following it.  He's going to die from this if he doesn't stop, and he knows it.  He knows what to do and we tell him to do it, but he doesn't.  Marrissa came to church again with her son!  She is so awesome!  She canceled our lesson with us this week, but she came to church!  She's been reading and praying too!  She's our most progressing investigator right now. 
Well that's it.  Good things happened, and some not so good things happened, but it's all in the hands of the Lord!  We're finding and teaching and doing all we can and leaving the things that we can't control up to the Lord.  All is well!  I can't wait to talk to ya'll next week!  I don't know an exact time for skyping yet, but we're probably going to do it at 1:00 or 1:30.  Maybe 2:00?  Hopefully that's ok.  I love ya!  Bye! 
Elder Nelson
P.S. Happy Birthday Lindsy!!!!!!