Merry Christmas

Dear Mom,
This week was good! It was good to talk to you! We just hung out with that family and stuff
afterwards and then went to a Recent converts house to eat some more.
Christmas was good we opened presents with the other Elders as well so it
was a good time. Thanks again for the gifts i loved them. That is crazy
that yall got so much snow, it was really nice on christmas here, i didnt
like that too much. This week it was a really hard week to be able to teach
people, they are all gone or with family or making up excuses haha. But it
was good! I am kinda glad that the holidays are over though so that we can
refocus and find new people who are wanting to make some new years
resolutions maybe! haha. Everything is great here, we are doing the same
thing, just teaching and trying to find people to teach. Thanks again for
everything and it was great to see you! Hope that everyone has a great
week! HAPPY NEW YEARS! Love Elder Nielson

Brayden has gone to the dogs:

Camden, Arkansas

Hey mom! 

Wow mom almost forgeting about your favorite son huh? (dont tell ashton or camden haha) Yeah this last week has flown by, I cannot believe that Christmas is this week, it is going fast. I talked to Aaron Jackson my last companion that went home, he is doing good and having a good time at home. i am glad that he is keeping in contact with me. Oh and i converted him to the movie Art of Flight! Remember that i watched that movie like religiously! So this week has been crazy, we drove all over our zone this week. Tuesday i finally got to go to Camden Arkansas!! it is in my zone, it is a small town but i got pictures of some signs. Wednesday we drove to little rock, and then Friday we drove to Monticello on this dirt road the entire way! i was acting like i was a rally car racer, it was a fun drive through the back woods! Long week of driving and going and helping missionaries in my zone. We are back teaching waysee and lisa, they are doing good we are just working hard with them and helping them quit smoking, i have never struggled this hard with someone that smokes before. They are tuff! Other than that this week was good and we are hoping that this week goes fast as well cause the christmas season is hard for missionary work cause everyone is gone and busy, but we sure will try. Hope that you have a good week and i will see yall on Christmas! Love you.

Elder Nielson 

Nice Brayden😄

These next 2 are for Brayden's brother Camden! 

Flirt to Convert

Hey Mom,
This week was a good week. We had fun and found lots of people to teach.
Kool-Aid is doing alright, he is just a typical person here that we are
trying to help him keep the commandments and receive blessings. He may not
know it right now but he needs the gospel haha. We are staying busy and
doing lots of things. We have been going on exchanges and working to help
our Zone out. But we are back to our normal P-days that last till 6 so it
has been really nice! Just nice to take a break and relax a little bit.
Last week we went to the golf range and hit some golf balls, it was dang
fun! The weather here has been beautiful! Like 60 degrees, just perfect
temperature. It does not feel like Christmas at all! I am not used to it
not being cold and snowy all the way up till March haha. I am missing the
snow! But since there is no snow i dont think about snowboarding so that is
a good thing.
This week we had some bomb lessons, we taught this one lady that we found
while eating at chilies! She is going to a bible school and studying the
bible. As we taught her we asked her questions, questions of the soul. We
asked if she thought that she was going to be able to live with her family
after this life? She said that she was not sure, she was taught that we
will all be spirits living in heaven and we will not remember our
relationships that we had on earth. That was so sad to hear, i felt so bad
that she didnt have the knowledge of living with families forever. We as 19
year old kids know more than a girl that is 33 going to school all day
studying the bible, that is sweeet! She was contradicting herself a lot, so
we invited her to read the Book of Mormon which can clarify a lot of things
and answers those questions of the soul. We hope and pray that she does
read and pray to God.
Also this week Elder Hadlock and i had an interesting thing happen to us.
We were walking down the road to an appointment we were going to when this
car pulls over and it has 3 black girls inside of it. One of the girls says
hey are yall selling something? and then we told her no and that we are
missionaries. then they all said oh my! You both are so sexy! you are so
cute. The one in the back of the car is smoking this huge blunt and they
are straight hitting on us, it was dang funny. They drove away and we died
laughing. Flirt to convert is my motto!
I did get my christmas package, am i supposed to wait to open it cause i
havent opened it yet... but i did open the one from Chad. He got me a nice
shirt and tie, they are dang nice! Tell him thanks so much!
I have no idea about Skyping yet, we know what family we are going to but
we do not know what time at all. We will find out this week. But all is
well, just chugging along. The holidays are flying by, it is already almost
the new year! it is crazy. Love you much and i hope all is well with the
family and friends back home. Love ya.
Brayden

Baptizing Kool-Aid

Hello!
Lots of questions right off the bat huh mom... haha
ok here we go. My new Companion is great! His name is Elder Hadlcok, he is
from Vernal Utah. We are a lot alike so you know that that makes for a
crazy time! But we also get work done. Transfers was good, we got a bunch
of new people in the Zone and we lost a lot of our good missionaries. We
are hoping that it all works out though! I am doing well, just lots going
on and busy all the time. Am i ever home sick? No not really, there is
times i miss certain things about home but never am i crying in the corner
wanting to go home if that is what your wondering ;) haha.
This week was a good week though. After transfers we went and saw all of
the people we teach and we found some great people this week as well. Ohh
want to hear a cool story! So we got a referral from one of our
investigators that his brother lives down the street, so we went and we
knocked on his door. We talked to him for a little bit, we taught him a bit
about the restoration and then we set a baptismal date with him! But the
best part was that he introduced himself as Kool-Aid! We set a date this
week with a guy named Kool-Aid! It was so sweet! i was telling everyone
about it haha. Nothing much else happened that was crazy really, just a
normal week of teaching. I am hoping that this will be a good month. This
week is an important one to be able to baptize this month so we will be
working hard. I hope all is well back home. I am doing good here, not much
is changing. I hope that i do not catch the flu through the computer from
you, just keep it in Idaho!
Love you and thanks for everything!
Love Elder Nielson
The one of all of us is the Pine Bluff Gang sign of all the people that
served in Pine Bluff!

Head honcho

Whats up!
This week has been a good week! Full of Food and more food. So i didn't end
up going to the temple, they said i couldn't... something about
worthiness... hahahah no it was cause there wasn't enough room. So i stayed
with the other Pine Bluff elders and we had some fun staying in Pine Bluff.
This week we had Mission Leadership council at President's house, it was
way fun! Sister Wakolo cooked, she didn't make octopus unfortunately but
she made some really good turkey! Don't ask how a Fijian knows how to cook
turkey. The Wakolos are so dang tight! I love them. They are just real
personable and love to have Fun but also know when it is business time!
This month my Zone had the goal of 20 baptisms and we had 24! So that is
great! The mission fell a little short of 100 but we still beat the record
of most baptisms in the month in the mission history. This week we went to
the Reynolds for Thanksgiving, it was fun. They had some dang good Food. We
also hit up some recent converts and just visited with lots of people on
Thanksgiving it was good.
This week we got back in touch with Cynthia, we are starting to teach her
again and we hope we can help her progress more this time. This Wednesday i
get a new companion and i am taking over as Zone Leader 1, i know right,
fancy title! I am a little nervous to be the head honcho but i think i will
be able to keep the Zone Stable. I am pretty sure that i am getting Elder
Hadlock, he is way cool. We will see on Wednesday. Lately we have been
having this crazy guy come to church, He says his Father calls him Erick...
he is all about being like Moses or something back in the old days and he
talks with an accent and yells in the middle of people teaching. It is
crazy, it does make church a little more interesting haha. But that is
about it for the week. I hope that yall have a good week and keep seeing
the blessings from God. Thank you for the prayers and the support that i
receive. Have a good one. Love you!
Elder Nielson

We are still just kids

Mom,
I am doing just peachy. No luck with Baptisms this week, but we are praying
for a miracle for this weekend. The Zone is at 17 which is really good. The
only thing that is new this week is that we found a lot of new
investigators which is great. We needed it for sure. We think that the Lord
was humbling us this month, but we are going to see great things happen
soon. Nothing to crazy happened this week, the only thing is that the other
elders backed into our car, that was dang funny! We are still just kids
screwing around haha
This week we have the Mission Leadership Council at Presidents house! It is
going to be sweet! And she is cooking us octopus so you know its gonna be
good! Then on Thanksgiving we have like 3 or more dinners that we are going
to, so no worrying about me not getting enough food ill be stuffed to the
brim! Then on Saturday Elder Jackson and i are going to the Temple in
Memphis. One of the Recent Converts in Frayser is getting her endowments,
so that is going to be great!
All my clothes are doing good, and my shoes as well! Im Straight!
That is about all the excitement right now. Some of my good mission friends
are leaving this upcoming week, im gonna miss them. The missionaries in the
mission is going to drop dramatically, 37 are leaving in December. So we
will see what happens.
Love you and thanks for the package and everything i loved it. Thanks for
the support and for stickin with me.
Have a great week and hope all goes well with the family!
Love Elder Nielson

COLD

Hey Mom,
This week was a good week for us, we found a lot of new investigators to
start teaching so that is really good. The Zone had 2 baptisms and 1
confirmation this week. It was a little down but we will kill it the next
few weeks. Elder Jackson and i have not personally baptized this month. The
People that were looking to get baptized kinda fell off the face of the
earth! Waysee is working a lot so we have not been able to see him but are
still trying to work with him and Lisa to be baptized the 29th. They need
your prayers.
This week was COLD! Just outta no where it got down to 28 degrees. No where
close to Idaho but with the Humidity in the air the wind that blows feels
like a cold knife just stabbing into you! I know that is Gory but it is
that cold! Good thing we have coats and sweatshirts. I am really missing
the snow though, i saw the pictures and i really wanted to go snowboarding!
AHH! The Doctor went good, they did the procedure and then said i was good,
i have a follow up next week.
So kind of a funny story this week, Elder Jackson and I and the other
Elders were driving to a dinner appointment down this narrow road in Pine
Bluff. We were going about 25 miles an hour, we had just made a right turn
and were speeding up. All of a sudden we see this black figure jump in
front of the car and SMACK! we hit it and it went under the car and out the
back, Elder Jackson slowed down and we all were like, we just hit a dog! we
thought it was under the car, when all of a sudden we see it running right
besides our car like it was trying to race us! It was dang funny. No dents,
no death, just a heck of a hard hit! Somethings on a mission are so much
more funny than in real life, some of the things that happen are so dang
funny here, and then i think that if i was home, this wouldn't be that
funny.
I got a letter from Brynlee this week, it made my day. She is dang good at
writing and spelling! Tell her that i loved it and that i love her and miss
her too. It is nice to get a letter every once in awhile. I hope all is
going well in the family, I love you all and wish you the best! I pray that
things will continue to get better. Sorry for all the craziness going on.
Love you and i will hear from you next week!
Elder Nielson

She almost gave up the ghost

Hey Mom,
Our week was good. Our district had 5 baptisms. Our Goal is looking very
good right now, we are at 13 and only have 7 more to go. The whole mission
is looking good and our goal is looking very reachable right now which is
great!
This whole week i was reminded that it was Dads birthday coming up because
we met 3 different Kevins! They were all nuts! So it definitely reminded me
of Dad haha. I am glad that Dad splurged and bought a hood! Wait till your
birthday when he buys wheels haha.
Our Week was a slow one, we had Zone meeting that we instructed at and then
i went to Hot Springs Arkansas on Exchanges. That place is pretty cool they
have an amusement park with roller coasters and things like that, i didn't
know that Arkansas was that updated with the world! I guess that they were based
Las Vegas after this town but who knows. It was a good exchange. We had a
pretty dang funny story that may be a little graphic but we are all adults
so i think we can handle it haha... So our investigator Mrs. Royse she is
73, she is crazy haha but funny. Somehow while talking to her and her
daughter we got on the subject of having kids and adoption. As we were
talking about that, Mrs. Royse turns to us and says, "Are yall virgins?"
this is a pretty normal question that we get but not from a 73 year old
lady! We told her yes and she almost gave up the ghost! She Said there was
no way that we were Virgins. She said if you are 20 years old and you have
not had sex, you must be gay! i could not believe the words my ears were
hearing! She literally called us Gay! it was so dang funny we died
laughing.
Elder Jackson and I are doing great, it is just tough serving with someone
who is going home in 5 weeks. I would never wish it upon anyone. But it is
all good and we will get through it.
I hope that yall have a great week! Thanks for all the support and love.
Love Elder Nielson

Missionary Wrap

Yo! 

I am doing great if you were wondering. This week was a really good week. Halloween was so sweet! We had like a party thing with games and stuff at the church. They did the Missionary Wrap, where they had all of us missionaries stand there and everybody races to wrap us up like mummies in toilet paper! it was turnt up as the kids say nowadays haha. Then we had this booth where the kids had a fishing pole and they would cast it over and then i would attach a candy to it and they would reel it back in, they loved it!  Then we had a bunch of candy left over so i just started throwing it over the curtain and yelling jumping bass!! all the kids went crazy and were diving and fighting over the candy. All in all we stole the show! it was crazy. All we did for our costumes was switch our nametags, so it wasn't to exciting, but i was Elder Hymas for the day! Saturday we played basketball with our Recent convert and his friends, it was fun. We rocked their world haha. It was nice to be able to have some fun and play some basketball. 

We found a lot of new investigators this week which is good and we have some investigators progressing towards baptism which is better. This month is a big month for us as a mission, we gotta work our butts off! Our Zone is looking good, we had 7 baptisms this weekend, and have lots of dates coming up soon. Everything is going gooood. 

So someone really commented on my blog and said they are boycotting american women? hmmm... what the crap?? haha 

that is DANG funny! haha. Just the other day a member took us to this mongolian grill (which was dang good by the way!) and then they said, hey we got this weight bench in the back of the truck, do you want it? and we said heck yeah! it is a sketchy looking bench but it works and we are trying to get jacked! but we soon realized that you cannot get jacked when the highest weight that you have is 15 pounds haha, so maybe we will just tone haha. 

Brynlee misses me so much huh? Well jokes on both of you, i am going straight to Ashton to give him a hug! haha 

Well i hope that all is going well for all of you back home. Is the house feeling like home now? How is Dad doing? 

OHHH! i was gonna tell dad that we are teaching a guy named Kevin! all i say is lets go see KEV! haha it is funny. He is a crazy black dude that quotes "scriptures" changes the words and says it is in Matthew when it really isn't haha! He is crazy, and he contradicts himself all the time, then he says, "ya know who said that? J-E-S-U-S , Jesus of Nazareth! He spells Jesus all the time instead of saying it haha. Good ole Kev! 

Anyway i hope that your week goes well! Thanks for all that you do. 

Love you and miss you. 

Elder Nielson   

Dead tired

Whats happenin? 

This week has been a good one, it has been a long and tiring one as well. Our investigators are doing well, we have some good ones that we are trying to get them baptized and such in November. We met this lady named Cynthia that is way to sweet! She loves being taught and she said she is going to feed us sometime! that is golden if you ask me! Our zone is doing great, November 1st, this saturday, we have 10 baptismal dates set! that is unbelieveable... our goal as a Zone for next month is 20 so that would mean that we would be halfway already on November 2nd. 

This sacrificing P-day has been rough, we never said it would be easy. We are just dead tired all the time it seems like, but we are making it. This week we have Mission Leadership Council, we are preparing for the Month of November. We have had so much intensity and anticipation for this month and it is finally here! So i hope that we can be helped with how we can help our Zone. 

The Crosbys are a family in Southhaven that Elder Jackson taught that drove down and took us to lunch, it was great. Good food.

Yesterday we had a great experience as we went over to Waysee's house. He told us as we got there that he recieved a Promotion at his job! We told him that we know that the blessing came from the Lord and that it came because he is changing his life! We hope that he recognizes it and knows that as he gives away all sin and s baptized that more blessings like that will come into his life. It was awesome to see that happen to someone so close. 

I hope all is going well at home, thanks for all you do, but more importantly for who you are. 

Love you and i hope yall have a great week! 

Elder Nielson

Be bold with Love

MOM! 

This week was a good one! No Elder Jackson and i are staying in Pine Bluff one more baby! It is gonna get wild up in here. 

We went on exchanges with the spanish elders in our zone, it is funny cause they never teach in english so they struggle when they come with us. So here is a good story while i was on exchanges. I was with the spanish Elder Geddes, he has been out for 5 weeks, just brand spankin! We went to our investigators house, her name is Ada Harris. So i was planning on going in there and trying to get her to commit to come to church. Somehow we got off on the subject of keeping the commandments, i asked her if she felt that she was pleasing God with her actions... good question to get them thinking. I then got it out of her that she was sleeping with her boyfriend. That is usually a typical case and i taught her about why that is wrong. Then she hit me with a surprise... she said that her "boyfriend" is married to another woman. I just sat there like oh crap here it goes. One thing that i learned on my mission is to be bold with love! Elder Geddes had know idea what to say so i just started to be bold and telling her that she was breaking a commandment of God and that God is not happy with her decisions. I said some other things that might have been straight a throw down! But it was the Spirit so thats ok! Haha but i committed her to stop. After the lesson, Elder Geddes said, Holy Crap how did you do that ? haha he was like you were pretty bold there and she didn't even get mad! I had no idea how i did it, i knew it was the spirit. Hopefully she really understood what it was teaching her. It was soo funny though, Greeny Problems!

Things  are going good and i am excited for the new transfer that is coming up! We are looking good for baptisms in November. We are praying and sacrificing a lot for these baptisms. We are even starting to cut our pday short and start working early so that we will have the help of the lord in hitting our goals. Sacrifice! Thanks for the package and yes it was the right shirt. I also got a package from Wendy Wilcox which was so awesome! 

HAve a great week and know that i love you! 

Nephi Day

Hey! Whats up! I am glad that everything went well with the whole moving
in! New house, hope it has that new house smell! Glad that the ward was
nice and everything! i am assuming that you are not in Hadley's ward?
My week was good! Elder Jackson and I had to instruct at Zone Meeting and
then we also watched Meet the Mormons which was a really good video! I was
impressed, better than I expected. It is crazy that the Kids are growing up
so fast! I hate it haha, They better still be my best buds when i get home.
Tell them I love them and miss them. I am glad that Ashton is doing well. Today is
Columbus day... which is dumb cause the library is closed so we are at a
members house and we don't have a lot of time. I was thinking why isn't
there a Nephi day? I am pretty sure that Nephi came here before Columbus
did! haha. It will happen soon i feel it.
I did get my package! Thanks so much. Everything is going great here. We
set a goal as a mission for 100 baptisms and confirmations in November, we
are praying hard for it cause it has never been done in this mission and we
gotta work our butts off for this one!
I love ya and i am glad that everything is going good! Cant wait to hear
from you next week!

Brayden said this was "tight" "top button swag" Haha

Love me some Jesus

Hey Mom, 

Yeah it was awesome that we had 2 baptisms this weekend! My Zone passed their goal of 12 baptisms, we got 16! It was great! As a mission we have a goal of 100 baptism for the month of November so we are all working on that and trying to prepare for it. That goal is unheard of, our highest as a mission is like 74. 

Conference was great! We had our investigator that is 73 years old come to it! Her name is Mrs. Royce, she is just an old country bumpkin living in AR KANSAS, she loves her some Jesus! She always tells us that Jesus talks to her, she just is a sweet old country girl. Her Husband has alzheimer's so she can never leave him for too long. But we are glad that she came, it was a blessing. I always love Elder Eyring's Talks as well as Elder Uchtdorf's talks, they are always good. 

This weekend was just a bunch of sitting at the church watching 10 hours of conference, my butt started to hurt from sitting so long, but that is the least of my troubles. But i have one more conference as a missionary cause there is still the one in April. This week we went to Hope Arkansas which is 2 hours away from Pine Bluff. It was a long drive. We almost took the Route through Camden Arkansas but it was longer of a drive. i was going to take a picture dangit! 

This week at our Zone meeting we are going to watch meet the mormons, we are all pretty excited for that because we don't ever get to watch movies period! haha. 

Well this last week was nothing to exciting just the same old same old. I am excited for yall to move and see how it all turns out. I pray that all goes well. The weather is cooling down here which is nice! I am so sick and tired of the dang humidity and the heat. I am looking forward to the cooler weather, my second and final summer has come to and end! WOOO! no more humidity. Well i hope that the family is doing good, tell everyone i say hi! Let me in on any updates of my friends or what is going on with people back home. 

Thanks for all you do. Love you. Love me some Jesus! 

Elder Brayden Nielson 

2 Baptisms in 1 weekend!

This week was a great week. Monday, us as leaders were instructed by Elder
and Sister Zwick. He is a member of the 70. Him and his wife are way good
teachers and they are very powerful. They then instructed Our zone and some
other ones on Tuesday. ThenTuesday night he had a Devotional for the Ward
leaders that missionaries go to. Lets just say it was a lot of meetings.
Wednesday we finally get back to our area and we start working. Thursday we
did the same. Friday we had to drive all the way to Arkadelphia (no this is
not Philadelphia, it is the Arkansas version of Philly. Arkansas is
something else) That is a Hour and 45 minute drive. We went there so Elder
Jackson and I could do some Baptismal interviews for some people getting
baptized. It is crazy that we have a calling to decide weather people are
able to be baptized or not. It was good though, all 4 of them passed.
Saturday we helped a member build a car port, that was a lot of work and it
took most of our Saturday. But then Saturday Night we had a baptism, YEAH
BUDDY! Her name is Natalie Kimball. Then we had celebratory Arby's as usual
afterwards. Sunday we had church, we had 4 people there and we had another
Baptism right after church! It was just a weekend of miracles in Pine Bluff
!
Elder Jackson's first name is Aaron. And we did go get a suit, we got it
from JCPenny. It is just a simple black suit. I really did not like thatsuit i had cause it was faded probably my first few months, idk what was up
with it. Maybe the material.The guy that called you was our main man Brother Herren! He is tight. He is
a 72 year old guy who drives us places and picks up our investigators. I
asked him to call you to make sure the money was in the account.
I did get my package Saturday, thanks so much. The shirts are great, i just
needed some new ones that actually fit.
Camden and Brynlee are so big, that is crazy.
Things are going good though, we are seeing lots of great things and having
lots of fun! It is crazy being a zone leader but i am getting used to it.
Hope all continues to go well. Ohh and dont think i forgot mom... HAPPY
BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK! Love ya and i hope you have a great one, i will be
thinking of you!
LOve Elder Nielson

Zone meeting

Brayden did not have a pday this week due to Zone Meetings and having Elder Zwick(?) of the seventy speak to them. So a nice member sent this picture to me. 

Brayden is doing great thanks for all your prayers in his behalf. 

Fail to plan, plan to fail

Pine Bluff is soo sweet! It is kinda like Frayser, just ghetto, but lots of
fun here. I think i like it more than Memphis already.My companions name is Elder Jackson. He is sweet! We have lots of fun
together. His Grandma is Gladis Night (if that is how you spell it?) if you
have ever heard about her. We are the Zone Leaders of the Little Rock Zone.
We are over about 44 missionaries. This Zone is pretty dang tight! We have
the Town of Camden in our Zone!
This week was pretty good. We had a baptism on Saturday, i taught this lady
when i went on exchanges down here awhile back. We had 6 people to church,
that is awesome in Pine Bluff! We are teaching a Family of 5, 4 of them are
Baptismal age. Then Mom and Dad are trying to give up smoking right now. So
if you could pray for the Porter Family that would be great! They are set
to be baptized this Saturday.
I am excited that it is almost official that we are moving and i am also
excited that i dont have to pack all the crap we have! haha. Dont worry
though, we as missionaries do our fair share of moving, we are the free
moving crew to all the members. Mormon Movers!
Well i hope that yall are doing well. Time is just flying by. I miss all of
you, i am missing the Kids growing up, it is going way to fast. I am loving
it out here though! It is hard as crap but i love it and love helping
people. I have realized that soon i am going to start to need a plan for
when i go home. If there is one thing i have learned that if you fail to
plan you plan to fail. Right now i have no idea so im SOL. haha.
Next week i probably will not be able to email till later on in the week.
We have a big leadership meeting where a Elder Zwick who is high up in the
church is coming and training us. It will be a long week.
Thanks for all the prayers and all the support. I love and appreciate all
of you.
Wish us luck this week. Love Jesus
Elder Nielson

Tender mercy of the Lord

Dear Mom, 

This week was a great week. We have driven all over Tennessee though visting other missionaries and teaching with them. Since we were not in our area much the Lord blessed us with a baptism this weekend! Tender Mercy of the Lord. Her Name is Gabrielle. She is great! mmmm didn't mean to rhyme, but i aint got time. We had a good week and things are going good. I love Frayser, but this morning i got the Transfer call... They need me in another area to be a Zone Leader. So i am not sure where i am going but i think i might be going to pine bluff arkansas. We will see. I am sad to leave cause i love this place. Both Elder Tolbert and i are leaving and they are bringing in 2 other Zone Leaders. 

I am glad that yall found a house, it looks really nice and it is in a great location it seems like. And there is a shop for the truck and the camaro! 

This week not to much exciting happened, lots of driving though. This week we drove 800 miles all over our Zone! It was lots of driving and talking and listening to music. 

Well i miss all of yall and i will be praying that everything with the house goes good and that it will all work out. Thanks for all the love and i hope that i go to a good area! Love yall! 

Elder Nielson 

Brave white guys

Hey Mom,
This week has been a good one! We did have our Baptism, she is awesome. It
was a part member family, it was great to unite the family. My companion
and i are getting along great! We are working hard and staying busy.
Frayser is getting worse and worse, just bunches of bad things going on and
we are right in the middle of it, everyone tells us everyday that we are
brave for being 2 white guys walking around in frayser! haha. I love it
here though, i will probably be here for awhile being a zone leader. We are
thinking that Elder Tolbert is leaving next week and i will be getting a
new companion, but we will see what happens.
Well i will be praying that yall will be able to make a decision on the
house, i hope that it is a good one!
I cannot believe that it is already September, that is just nuts! Time is
just flying by, the kids are in school ashton is alomost 17... it just is
blowing my mind. If i blink i will miss it all.
Thanks for all of the support from everybody! I love yall. Anybody that
wants to write me i would love it! Getting lonely out here ;) hahaha
I hope yall have a great week, good luck on everything! Sorry it is not too
exciting haha
Elder Nielson

Not bragging but....

Yellow!
This week has been oh sooo HOT! Literally 107 degrees or higher. It hassucked! Good thing we are on full car haha! People have just been
hibernating in their houses and will not answer the door or it will let the
cold air out! haha.
We had Zone Conference this week, Elder Tolbert and I had to instruct for
20 minutes of it. We did pretty good! President Told the Assistants that
ours was the Best instruction in the mission... not bragging or anything
haha. No, just everyone talked the whole time and us we tried to involve
people and ask them questions to get them learning. I am getting better at
talking to those big crowds. It went good though. Just super busy all the
time, leadership is hard.
We should have a couple of baptisms this Saturday, it is going to be sweet!
The Memphis 1st ward is great! Lots of cool people, i have never been to a
ward like this before. It is crazy. We have an Elvis Presley impersonator
that goes to our ward! He was at church on sunday with his hair and is
sideburns and just rocking the oldies clothes! Only in Memphis can you find
this kind of stuff. There has been so much crime lately here, just cops
everywhere cracking down on anything they see.
There is a recent convert family that we go see, their name is the Shorts.
They are legit. She is a single mother with 9 kids, all the kids just love
us, they fight with us and just attack us the whole time. Lots of fun at
the Shorts home.
I just love it here in Memphis, i hope that i do not leave. Well i hope
that all is going well for you back at home! I can't believe that we are
moving, i thought this day would never come! It is here though. Those
pictures you sent were way small and i could not see them very well so
youll have to get better pictures. Thanks for all you do! Love yall
Elder Nielson

The Short Family Brayden loves these kids

Add caption

Pictures

Elder Bluth and his mom went back to Arkansas to visit after he returned home. Sis Bluth took these pictures

Zone Conference

We are protected

Hey Mom,
No way... the house is sold?? That is awesome! You should really look for a
house somewhere in the country. That is my
preference by i am not there so it is different haha. Dang that is
exciting! i am glad we are moving! it will be an adventure.
Our week went really well. Tennessee is awesome! Frayser is a really ghetto
black area, i have met some of the coolest people ever here. It is just a
completely different lifestyle here. Kids basically live on their own, it
is normal to be pregnant at 15. Everybody smokes weed, crappy cars and
$2,000 rims haha... i love Memphis! This week if you look at the Memphis
news, there hasd been a ton of shootings. We have heard gun shots like
every other day... but don't worry mom:) We are protected. All the
gangsters know the missionaries and we are like best friends with all of
them. They always tell us that if we have problems to talk with them and
they will take care of it. We got our crew behind us!! This week i went on
2 exchanges... one with Elder Rushton in Lakeland Tennessee (really rich
area, poopoo) and then Midtown which is downtown Memphis which is a mix of
rich and slums. So i have seen it all this week. There is lots of stuff
that Zone leaders have to do, we are always doing something it feels like.
The other night, an area didn't text that they were in and safe, so we had
to drive 20 miles at 11:30 at night to go to their apartment and check if
they were ok. Turns out they just went to sleep and didn't text us. We have
been super tired this whole week haha.
My companion and i are getting along great and having a good time! We just
are crazy and do fun things. Our ward got a new bishop, he is awesome. He
is black and it makes church feel like a baptist church when he gets up and
talks. I love it! Thank you jesus! Amen!
We have a couple baptisms coming up soon that we are excited for... We are
praying they stay solid.
Well i hope that everything works out with the house! I am super excited
and i hope we get something in the country! Keep me updated. Thanks for all
you do, i love all of yall! im fixin to get up on outa here! I love
memphis!
Love Elder Nielson

Picture from Memphis

Received this great picture of Elder Nielson tonight from a great member that took them to dinner! 

I love getting these little surprises! 

(What is a Brayden eating? Waffles and chicken? Haha) 

This is important people!

Hey mom, 

This week has been good. We have actually been in Frayser like a total of 2 days. We have had meetings and exchanges and we have had to go and do baptismal interviews so we have been on the move! This Sunday at church was crazy! Never a Dull moment in the Memphis 1st Ward. It is just like a Baptist church, black people hooting and hollering and saying AMEN! It is great! The speaker yesterday was preaching false doctrine and he slapped the Microphone and started yelling and said, "This is important people!" It was embarrassing. Just a bunch of good stuff that is going on. They put a paper in the mailbox that said i have a package i just havent gotten a chance to get it yet. The members here are poo poo haha. They don't feed us much so it is costing lots of money for food haha. But it is fun here. Elder Tolbert and i are doing good and having fun, he goes home at the end of the year so he is getting kinda trunky and that is lame. I love it here and i am having lots of fun. Just super busy having to put in numbers on p day and stuff so it limits my emailing time even more! ahh. But thanks for all the support, i love yall and i hope yall have a great week! 

Love Elder Nielson 

Famous hand shake

Hey Mom,
Mom... I love Frayser!! yeah i would advise you to not look at pictures of
Frayser haha! They are not too pretty. This is the Ghetto-est area in our
mission. It is sweet! Just a lot of Black people just livin life. I can't
tell ya how many drug deals i have seen, how many 15 year olds that are
pregnant... i love it here! haha. Sacrement this week was awesome! It was
Fast and Testimony Sunday so all the black people were getting up and
testifying like it is a baptist church, it was the best. Good times in
Memphis 1st ward.
So as a Zone Leader, my companion and I are over 21 companionships, so like
42 or so missionaries. Lots of work. We have to instruct a lot at meetings,
go to mission council with president and go on lots of exchanges with the
district leaders.
My Companion, Elder Trevor Tolbert, is sweet! We get along real good! We
have fun, maybe too much at times haha. We are going to try different
things in this Zone so we are excited. He has been out 19 months. It is
going good!
Transfers was crazy, just lots of driving and packing things up, long drive
to memphis, that was about it.
Memphis is sooo much different than anywhere i have ever been. Just soo
Ghetto and it is awesome, we have met just the nicest people ever. We go up
to the black guys and do the famous hand shake and we are in! I love
Memphis.
So i am pretty much just livin the dream, getting fat, probably wont get
married because of it when i get home haha.
I miss you all and i hope that yall have a great week and i will continue
to keep yall in my prayers.
Even more busy as a dang Zone Leader... ahhh.
Love Elder Nielson