Next part of life... Preparing

What is up, 

Not much went on this last week. We went to a trampoline park last Monday! that was pretty fun! This week we went on exchanges in Memphis. I stayed in Memphis, it was pretty sweet. We had a good time. 

Everyday we kind of just play it by ear, we never know what we are going to have to do. This week we were able to have some time to teach which was great. This Sunday we set 2 baptismal dates with this little family here in Little Rock. They are pretty sweet! So the thing with pictures is that we never take pictures haha, so it is kinda useless to have a camera. We need to get better at it, we just never have anything to take pictures of. Elder Smith goes home at the end of August, so he has still got 4 months left. It is really crazy that i come home so soon, i am not at the point where it has truly hit me. but i dont feel that i never want to leave either. I know that once my 2 years is up i need to move on and go to my next part of life. 

This week we start to do transfers. So us and President will get together and talk about transferring people and who should go where. I am pretty excited cause i heard that it is an awesome experience. That starts tomorrow. 

This morning (Elder) Josh Clason my trainer called me, he told me that tomorrow is the day, he is getting married tomorrow! it is so crazy. He said he is going to try to be there when i get off the plane maybe... so that will be sweet! it is just crazy how time flies!  

So for school i am thinking that i just start by majoring in business like i had and just see how i like it and i can always change. Somehow i need a list of classed or something. I have no idea how to do any of this class stuff, i know nothing. So i guess if there is anyway to figure that out. I just need the basic classes right now i guess. 

Let me know. 

Love you Mom, love all of yall. 

Hope that yall have a great week! Thanks for all the support and love. 

Talk to you soon!

I found this picture of Brayden and Elder Smith with his mission president and the outgoing assistant Elder Daley

Busy week

Hey there, 

Our week was good. It was a really busy week though. Tuesday we instructed a meeting in Little Rock with 2 zones there. Wednesday we instructed in Searcy Arkansas to one zone. Then Thursday we were in Memphis instructing to the other 2 zones. Lots of traveling and teaching the missionaries. So an assistant to the president is 2 missionaries that help him carry out the work. Like training missionaries in meetings, we deal with transfers and where people should be transferred. We go on exchanges with zone leaders. We just help president with whatever he needs. We are constantly busy and doing things which is good, but boy it sure wears you out fast! Yeah i am with Elder Harrison Smith, he is from Malad Idaho. He is dang sweet! We get along great. He is going to Byu-I in the fall as well. We were maybe thinking of living together. 

Well i am glad that everything turned out good with the funeral. It looks like a nice service. Which cemetery is it that he was burried? 

Well other than that things are going good here. Just tired haha, but things are going well. I am learning a lot with this new calling i have and am fascinated to see how the mission is run behind the scenes. 

Thanks for all the pictures and all the info about the week. I am glad everything went well. 

Thanks for all you do. Love you guys. miss you. 

Hope you have a great week. Sorry i am so busy haha. 

Love Elder Nielson


So Brayden doesn't take pictures any more... But the sister in the first pic... Her mother posted a picture and sent me these! Love missionary moms that share pics

Plan of Happiness, not the plan of Sadness

This is Brayden's mom.. My father passed away on Sunday the 12th. So Monday we reflected on him and death. I was unsure about posting this then realized someone might benefit. Brayden is a great example to me and gave me some great insight and comfort. What a great missionary I have...(I can say that I'm the mom 😀)


Hey Mom, 

Yeah i must have felt something. I feel like i almost knew that it was coming as well. Surprisingly when President called me i was super calm and at peace. I knew that he was in a much better place. Immediately i thought of the scripture in Alma 40:11-12. Which teaches us about the spirit world. Teaches us that it is a place of peace, a place of rest, a place where they can rest from all care and sorrow. So yes he is in a way better place. And he is being taught the gospel. I now know why i had an impression 1 year ago to send him a Book of Mormon. He will recognize it, he will see the good it can bring, and i feel he will except. I am sad, and feel bad that he could not make it until i was home. But i know that this is called the plan of happiness, not the plan of sadness. We need to be happy, we know that he is out of this dreary and dreadful world. So i feel at peace, and i am glad that i was able to write him before he passed away. I am so grateful that he was proud of me and the decisions that i have made. I loved him and he was a great grandpa, and a good man. I love that we have his truck and things like that to remember him by. I hope that you are doing ok mom, i hope you are taking it well. Remember always, that this is the Plan of Happiness! No sadness in the plan! That all these things make us stronger and bring us closer to our Eternal Father in Heaven. I love you mom and family, and i hope that yall are holding in their. Be strong. 

How was the wedding? What else has been new? 

Being an Assistant to President Wakolo has been so great. I love that Man. He is such an example to me, and so inspiring. I am glad that he trusts me enough to be his Assistant out of 200 other missionaries to choose from. It has been great. We have a week of touring the mission this week and instructing around the mission, i am excited for the experiences and the time spent with President. What things did he say about me? How long did you talk to him? How did you get ahold of him? 

Well thanks for the updates mom, love you so much. Stay Happy! 

Love Elder Nielson 

Butterflies

Dear Mom,
Well these last 2 weeks have been so crazy! I guess to start off i had a
really good birthday last monday! It was actually dang fun. We played cards
with our recent convert family in the morning and had lots of fun and smack
talk. Katrina told me that you pin money to you that you get to your shirt
and during the day on your birthday people can give you money! it was such
a genius idea! I made 30 bucks from doing that. We hung out at the Reynolds
home that night, hung out with John which is also a recent convert, he gave
me this awesome shirt off of his back haha. I do not feel older just get to
say i am older haha. In the month of March our zone, the Little Rock Zone,
hit the goal of 16 baptisms right on the head, it was awesome! they are
great!  Well here is the craziest part. So i have 2 more transfers left, i
was expecting to get transferred back to memphis to be a zone leader over
there. Friday night i get a text from President, he said to call him as
soon as possible. My heart drops... i thought someone died in the family,
or something crazy was going to happen. It took me awhile to build up the
nerve to call him. i call him and then he asks if we can speak in private.
That just added to the butterflies! He asks me a bunch of questions about
my leadership and how i was able to inspire the zone to hit goals and all
this stuff. I was wondering what the heck was going on the entire time. He
then says, Elder Nielson. I would like to extend the call to be my new
Assistant. BAM! that came out of no where! i go home in 2 transfers, why
would i go Assistant? But i said yes. So Sunday i had to leave at 2 oclock
to go up to LR. I am going back to Pinnacle Mountain also By the way, so it
is to an area that i have already been before. Yesterday all the way to
thursday we have to pick up people, drive across the mission. Send
missionaries home on the plane, pick the new missionaries up... it is a lot
of crazy stuff that i have to do now, we are doing behind the scenes work.
So that is what is up. I am now going to be even more busy! Yesterday we
had no pday at all. But i am very grateful for the opportunity which i have
to be an AP. So that is the news update. I hope you understand all of that
haha. Well i hope that yall have a great week! The baptism of Josephine
went great! i am sad that i left Pine Bluff but i know that i will be back
someday haha. Love you.
Elder Nielson

Happy 20th Birthday Brayden

Thanks to WONDERFUL members I got these pictures plus this message:

"We are so blessed to have your son serve his mission with us. Here's some birthday pictures we took tonight I figured you would love to see him "

Then he emailed a short letter attached below: 

Hey mom, sorry that today I wasn't able to write much or anything. We went to email this morning and the email website was down... Just my luck on my birthday! So I am writing on a members I pad and it is super hard to type with. We did have our baptism but I will have to send the pictures next week. She is so cool. Today we hung out at Katrina's house and played cards and then went to eat at chilies with a member here. We used the balloon launcher! It is awesome. I had a really great birthday. I will make sure to send pictures and things next week! I love y'all and thanks for the package and things from everyone! I loved them. I will tell you more about it next week. Sorry again... I have the worst luck ever! Love ya

She is cash

Hey there, 

Things are going good! We had a good week. We had our Zone Meeting that went really well, and we also went on exchanges this week. I was in Camden for the day! Nothing too crazy happened, other than we almost got in a pretty bad car wreck but we are pretty sure angels were helping the other car not hit us! haha. It was my fault, but this lady had to like swerve and slam on her brakes. We were in a hurry so i just drove off, as i was driving i see this car coming up on us really fast. We stop at a stop light and this car honks its horn and is acting all crazy and this big black lady pulls up next to us and starts yelling, "What the heck were you thinking!" hahaha and i was like my bad. I just looked at her and she was like ugh! and then drove off. It was pretty dang funny! she wasted her time just to chase me down. She probably wanted to fight me! ha. Other than that nothing too crazy happened. We are still teaching Josephine, she is cash. She came to church and is getting baptized this Saturday! Waysee Porter also came to church and we are going to try and see if he wants to be baptized on Saturday as well. we are praying for it. 

Dang i am pretty dang Jealous that you were able to go to Shade and Paiges Reception! I bet that was crazy! I am glad that everything went good! This week is the last week in march, our Zone needs like 6 more baptisms and confirmations to be able to hit our goal of 16. We are really stressing about it but i feel that everything will go well. We are looking like we will hit it.

So i have 7 more days of being a teenager, i want to do something crazy! haha but i probably wont, ill probably just go knock on a rich persons door or knock a door at like 9 oclock, you know... the craziest things you can do as a missionary! haha. Anyways... i hope that all is well back home. The temperature is going crazy here, it just keeps going up and down and raining and stopping and being typical Arkansas... i am sick of it haha. I want it to just stay nice cause that is good for missionary work. Hope that you have a great week! ill talk to yall on my birthday next week! Love ya. 

Love Elder Nielson 

Birthday temple trip

Hey Mom, 

So yesterday i went to the temple so that is why i am emailing today! i am not going apostate or anything! haha. I am doing very good. Our week was a long one but it was full of good stuff. Some changes came to the mission and things and we are excited to see how the work changes. We need to as a family go back to Pine Bluff and visit Katrina yall would have a blast! We are still working with Josephine, she is planning on being baptized on the 28th! She is soo dang solid. It was one of those missionary stories that you hear of where she was praying for guidance and help and then we knock on the door and she just is running with it! We just taught her this morning and we watched the Restoration video and she loved it and says she believes Joseph Smith is a prophet! Big deal. She is way solid. I call her grandma because she is just like a grandma, it is great. I went on exchanges with the Assistants this week, they said i probably am leaving Pine Bluff in April which stinks but that i am staying a Zone Leader and going somewhere else... i am going to die as a zone leader it looks like, freak! 

Other than that all is well! It is dang warm today, i am glad cause i am getting sick and tired of the rain. thanks for everything! Well i am going to go live it up and do something crazy cause i only have a couple weeks of being a teenager!! 

Peace! 

Love Elder Nielson


From Brayden's mom:
Today we received the official email saying Brayden is coming home on June 30th with his travel plans and arrival time!!!! We are so excited! The end is near😃