Subject: If you don't like the weather, wait a minute

Date: April 14, 2014 8:11:45 AM PDT

First things first. Everyone that reads this go to mormon.org/becauseofhim  . Its a Easter Video about Christ and what he did for each and every one of us. Now that you have seen it, share it with one person you meet this week.

 

Welllllll the name says it all doesn't it? It got up in the 90's this week. We had a zone conference and it was super hot in the chapel so I wanted it to get cold. Well... Now its snowing outside. A little extreme but.... That's Missouri for you. This week went super well for us. We found lots of new people to teach (all Hispanic, which is great for me). Mom told me about going to a ward in New Mexico where 2 missionaries were serving right here in Independence. Well... Sister Thurston is in my zone so I do know one of them haha. Also, there are about 280 missionaries in my mission and its about 60/40(%) Elders/Sisters.

 

Not much interesting stuff really happened at all this week so sorry if the e-mail is boring. We did have one good lesson with a Spanish family with our Bishop. That lesson went extremely well and you could feel the spirit the entire time. The family loves us and fed us Tamales (which I'm pretty sure take a very long time to make, and are very delicious) and were very impressed with what we were teaching them. The mom even said that she knows that what we are teaching her is true, that we are true messengers/servants of God and that she can feel the spirit every time that we walk into her house (which has been 3 times now). So needless to say, I am very excited for the progress that we are making with this family.

 

Cool quote I heard yesterday during a Priesthood meeting. Our Stake President told the entire stake that if they continued do missionary work how they have been then the stake would fail. he followed that comment with saying that "Failure is not moving forward". It was something that hit me really hard and that should make each one of us think about the things we are doing. Is what we are doing in Christ's church helping his Gospel to move forward. Are the efforts that we are making helping others to progress, or are we just keeping them stable? If we are not helping ourselves and the people we love to "Move forward" then we ourselves are failing as members and as missionaries. It sounds a little harsh but it should give us all the motivation that we need to continue moving forward.

 

Oh! There was something very very very exciting that happened this week. One of the people I was teaching in Kaw River (Kansas City, Kansas) got baptized on Saturday and I got to attend :D 9 year-old Jeremy Birdwell was able to have his Father baptize him. It was a super great experience and the first time that I feel I have truly been able to see the "fruits of my labors". It's really awesome to be able to see that your efforts are not wasted and that the people you care about and teach are strengthening their testimonies in Christ and following his example. So yeah, that was the truly exciting part of my week.

 

That's about it this week. We only ate at one buffet this week which is a bummer ;) Love you guys. Have a great week!

 

 Love

     -Elder Nyholm