Sent: Monday, November 03, 2014 8:39 AM

 

You're right about the time Mom. A year does go fast but it does still seem like a lifetime haha. I try not to think about how long I've been out but it's pretty hard to do when you are at your year mark. Haha I was in my last area for 3 months and when I got there I was at about 9 months, and I still told people that I was at about 9 months when I left. Then all of the sudden I'm at a year. But I think I liked being at 9 months better. Maybe I will just stick with that ;) 

 

Thanks for giving those missionaries some money for lunch Ma. I guarantee that that was one of the highlights of their day.

 

This week went pretty well. On Halloween we weren't allowed to be out tracting after dinner so we had dinner with a Less-Active family and spent the time after dinner passing out candy to people that came by the door. That family is super funny, they already told me that if I had been a "dud" missionary then they would always be too busy to meet and that if Elder Lokeni leaves and I get a "dud" missionary in his place then I will never be in their home again. It feels good when people people don't think you are a "dud" missionary hahaha :)

 

We also got to carve pumpkins on the day before Halloween. It was a fun little thing that we got to do that just gave us a little stress relief and fun for a little while. I think the pumpkin that I carved turned out to be the best one that I've ever done. I was a little impressed because I just jammed the knife in and started cutting without anything to guide me. But yeah, that was a little fun highlight of our week.

 

We've got two awesome people that we are teaching that should be getting baptized really soon (Nov 15th and Nov 22nd). Hopefully all goes well and I will be able to send you some baptismal pictures soon :) It feels really good to have two solid people to teach who actually enjoy having you teach them and appreciate the fact that you are out on your mission. I don't feel like I've felt that from investigators in quite a while.

 

To answer your question about packages. If it's USPS priority mail then it gets forwarded to me from the mission office Mon-Fri. If it's not USPS priority mail then it takes until someone from Independence makes a trip up here to the boonies, so probably a pretty long time.

 

 I was reading in 2 Nephi 33 this week and verse 3 really stuck out to me. Its says "But I, Nephi, have written what I have written, and I esteem it as of great worth, and especially unto my people. For I pray continually for them by day, and mine eyes water my pillow by night, because of them; and I cry unto my God in faith, and I know that he will hear my cry." I feel like each on of us has several people that we pray for constantly, who mean the world to us and who we want the best for. To me it is super comforting to know that our Heavenly Father hears each and every one of our prayers and that he hears and answers, again, each and every one of our prayers (although we may not recognize those answers). It's also super important that as we pray for those people that we pray for them "in faith", showing God that we have confidence in Him and that we know that he will do what is best for that person who we are praying for. The power of prayer can play and powerful and active role in our lives if we let it. It's so important that we realize that and act on that knowledge so that each one of us can help to bless the lives of those around us.

 

In terms of the question you asked of "why are children so devilish sometimes if Satan doesn't have power over them" (I laughed pretty good when I read that by the way) I kind of look at it from this point of view. If they acted perfect 100% of the time while they were children then as soon as Satan did have power over them to tempt them then they would not know how to resist those temptations and they would not know of the consequences that come from "acting devilish". So when the time came that Satan did have power over them, they would give into just about every temptation that was put in their path and be accountable for those sins, which would definitely not be a good thing. So yeah, those are my thoughts on that.

 

Not much else really interesting happened this week. It got really cold one night, about 20 degrees, but that isn't nearly as cold as it will be this Winter so.... yeah we will see what happens :)

 

Well have a great week. Thanks for all the support you give me. Sure Love Ya!

 

      -Elder Nyholm