From: Peter Nyholm [mailto:peter.nyholm@myldsmail.net]
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2015 11:59 AM
To: Robert Nyholm; Janet Nyholm; amanda anderson
Subject:

 

Tuesday was kind of a bummer. We had two appointments set up with recent converts and they both fell through. But that is missionary life for you. On the positive side, we received two referrals from members and had a very positive experience with both of them. Hopefully we will be able to begin teaching them both in the coming week. 

 

Wednesday we met an awesome guy named Emmanuel who requested a bible and a Book of Mormon. Emmanuel is from Liberia and he is really interested in what we believe as Mormons. He had a friend in Liberia that was LDS and so he started looking online and started chatting with the missionaries and learning about the church via the Internet. So we are super excited to start working with him and his family. I have to say though, Liberian accents are dang hard to understand. 

 

Thursday I learned that I have learned how to be a missionary. At least to some extent. We brought a member to a lesson with a recent convert and the recent convert had a question about the priesthood. Well, then him and our member started discussing it, a little heatedly, and you could totally tell that the spirit was gone. I've learned that in those situations it is best to just bear your testimony and move on. And that's exactly what we did and then the spirit came back and we were able to conclude our visit with the spirit. So I've learned at least a little bit :)

 

Friday we had a pretty cool experience. After dinner we felt like we should go visit an active member who we had not met before. We stopped by and introduced ourselves, got to know them, shared a message, etc. Before we left we asked them if there was anything we could do for them and the wife said "I've been struggling with a illness for a while and today I was thinking that I really need a priesthood blessing and now you showed up so can you help my husband give me a blessing?" So we did and it was a very spiritual experience and really helped us remember that the spirit is guiding us. 

 

Saturday we had a lot of good stuff planned but then everything fell through...

 

Sunday was awesome. We were able to visit a recent convert named Tim. He's a super solid guy and today was the first day I was able to meet him. He was baptized 2 weeks ago and has a super solid testimony and understanding of the gospel. We are working on preparing him to go to the temple to do baptisms and also to receive his patriarchal blessing. It's awesome to see people who are so solid in the gospel so soon after their baptisms. We were also able to visit a active family in our ward. After we shared a message and we're starting to walk out the door, the mother told us that she had been planning on sharing a message with her family but didn't know what to share and that the message we shared with the family was exactly what her family needed at that point in time. The spirit strikes again :)

 

This week we learned about Charity in our gospel principles class. The question was posed of if we do not provide service and charitable acts then will we begin to lose charity. It was awesome because earlier this week I was reading a General Conference talk that quoted "The Screwtape Letters" and said "The more often [a person] feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.” As Nephi says in 2 Nephi 28:30 "blessed are those who hearken unto my precepts, and lend an ear unto my counsel, for they shall learn wisdom; for unto him that receiveth I will give more; and from them that shall say, We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have." Following the promptings of the spirit and providing service to those around us are such important aspects of the Gospel. I know that as we do so that our testimonies of the gospel will be strengthened and that our desire to provide service to those around us will increase. Overall, we will grow closer to our Heavenly Father and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well I think that's about it for the week. I love you!

 

      -Elder Nyholm