Merry Christmas from the Philippines

We only have a two hour p-day today so I don't have a lot of time. But I will talk to you in a few days anyway. But I have some good news. Sister Chimene Cinco passed her baptismal Interview and will be baptized this Saturday. She was smiling from ear to ear, it was precious. She is very excited to bear her testimony at her baptism. And we also moved Jem's baptism up to January 9th, so these next few weeks should be good ones. His plan is to serve a mission after one year, which we absolutely great. We have the ward Christmas party tomorrow and the mission Christmas party on Thursday. My first Christmas should be an exciting one. We are having a gift exchange, and I bought a half Thai half spanish Hannah Montana "monopolio" ( Monopoly ) game and a little bow and arrow thing with the sticky suction cups on the end. I'll send a picture next time. I thought it was quite the gift! hahaha. It is crazy to think I am already having my first call home. The time really does fly. I love this gospel so much. I love all of you and will talk to you on Christmas, (your time) 

Mahal ko lahat kayo

Elder Nielsen

BUSY BUSY WEEK

It was a good week last week. We were very busy with Zone Interviews, 5 week training, Christmas Devotional and exchanges, so we did not have a whole lot of time to work in our area. But overall, it was still a very beneficial week, we were able to complete  lesson 4 with Sister Cinco, and schedule her baptismal interview on this coming Saturday. She is doing very well, and is looking forward to her baptism in the next few weeks. Brother Jem is continuing to do well, he has attended church four consecutive Sundays. He attends institute every week and he also attended the Christmas Devotional on Sunday. We hit another small block last week with Brother Denilo. After we taught him about the Word of Wisdom, he told us he drinks coffee two or three times a day. He tried to give it up last week, but said it was very hard and he needed to drink it. We will continue to work and pray with him to overcome his addiction to coffee. Sister Queenie our other investigator, made a lot of progress last week. She is the only one in her family that has not been baptized. Her parents are recent converts of little over a year and her sisters were baptized in October. She is 19 years old and is pretty shy. She was a little reluctant when we extended a baptism date to her the first time. She seemed unsure or nervous, and we weren't quite sure why, but we have continued to teach her and she has really progressed. She has came to church three times since we have been in the area, and a few more times in the past. Our last lesson we taught about the Holy Ghost and we gave each person in the family the assignment to find a verse about the Holy Ghost and share it with us the next lesson. Sister Queenie studied and watched videos all about the spirit and she shared practically a small talk with us about the spirit. You could see her knowledge and testimony had grown from all the studying she had done. We are excited to continue to work with her, and extend her another baptismal invitation. 

Exchanges went really well last week. I was companions with Elder Foster. He is truly a great missionary, he taught me a lot in that little time we spent together. He is just a wonderful example for me about how to be humble and Christlike. 

Oh I forgot to mention but I'm sure you figured, we had transfers again. But just like a figured, Elder Gurtiza and I are still together. 

Elder Gurtiza is continuing to  help me everyday in every aspect of the work. We get along and work really well together and are excited to be together for another transfer. 

Mahal 

Elder Nielsen

Faith of a Mustard Seed‏

We had another good week this week. This was probably my fastest week in the mission.We really focused on our progressing and recently found investigators. Our main progressing investigators are doing really well. One of our investigators left and went to the provinces to spend time with her family for the holidays. Unfortunately, she will not return until the first of the year. But she promised us she would continue to read and go to church with her active family out there. We are trying are best to stay in content with her and remind her to read and go to church. Sister Cinco, our other progressing investigator, moved her baptism back to the 26 of December, in order for both of her parents and family to be able to attend. Brother Gem, attended church again this Sunday for the third time. We just finished lesson 3 with him last week. We have no problems or concerns with Gem, he is very solid and has a very strong testimony and reads all our assignments. His baptism will be held on January 16th. With Brother Denilo, we still haven't really been able to figure out his concerns yet. He attended church again for third time, but he still seems unsure about working towards his baptism in January. We want to really focus on him this week, and figure out what exactly is holding him back. 

Our recently found investigators seem to be interested in our message, but did not attend church for whatever reasons. We want to focus on them making that next step and commitment, and go to church.

Elder Gurtiza is doing great. He said this last week was the fastest week in his mission. He really like when the day is busy and we have a lot of appointments to go to. I told him the advice grandpa, " The harder you work, the faster it goes." The key is just to work hard and lose yourself and then the days just fly by. I really think I'm starting to really focus on the work because the days are just flying by. Last week I really focused on my attitude, having a really positive attitude with the heat, when we get punted, and how there is no rain. I think it really helped. 

We had a spiritual experience last Monday, we had a FHE planned with an active member, then at literally the last second they canceled it. So we had no idea who we were going to go to next. We started walking and then we thought we should visit a recently returned less active. So we visited him and he let us in, he told us he had stayed home from work because he head really hurt because of his tooth ache. So we taught him a lesson and at the end, he asked us if we could give him a blessing.So we gave him a blessing and at the end of the blessing he said the pain was completely gone. He said he felt peaceful, and he could probably actually fall asleep now ( he couldn't earlier because of the pain). He said he took pain pills earlier but nothing worked. He said the power of the Priesthood is so powerful and he asked us to give him a copier of the priesthood prayers in case his kids were ever sick. We thought this experienced really strengthened his testimony about the Priesthood and also our testimonies.That was my first miracle I have seen through my priesthood blessings. It was simple but powerful, it really changed my perspective on things as I pondered the experience. I decided I need to have a lot more faith when I give blessings, I need to have the faith giving the blessing that the person will be healed, as long as it is God's will. If we had the faith of a mustard seed, we could move mountains. And if we have the faith, Heavenly Father can perform any miracle through us. 

And last night we had a fun experience. We were invited to the Mission Presidents Home for dinner to break our fast. There were 3 other sets of missionaries with us. And it was a really good time, it was the first time I had American food in a long time, we had Mexican lasagna, it was wonderful. And after the dinner President picks on a set of missionaries to give a short active member lesson. And sure enough, he called on us. We both just felt like he would. So we taught about the Savior and Christmas and watched the short Christmas Clip for this year. It was such a relief being able to say what my thoughts and feelings were since the lessons was in English. I thought the lesson went really well, I felt the spirit really powerfully and so did everyone else as they shared their feelings on the Savior.

Next week is going to be a hectic week. Lots of meetings and activities going on. I was asked to give a talk on being exactly obedient at the 5 week training for all the trainer and trainees, so I still need to prepare for that. This church is true and Christmas season is a great opportunity to share the Gospel. Don't hold anything back, invited everyone to learn more about the Savior. 

Mahal na Mahal kayo

Elder Nielsen

ps. It's too bad you couldn't get a bull elk, mom. But the hunt and the memories are just as fun. That makes two of us with elk tag soup. But don't worry, in 5 years we can start putting you in for the draw again ;)