Hungary Week 87

Hey everyone!

It has been a great week!  We have been able to see so many miracles and we were able to set our first baptismal date together.  We are pushing ourselves as hard as we can and the miracles are coming, one on top of the other!  I am just so grateful to be here right now.

We were able to put an AMAZING man on baptismal date this last week.  His 16 year old daughter was baptized a number of years ago and shortly after her baptism, his wife decided to be baptized!  She was baptized by one of the beloved MTC teachers.

This man was on and off baptismal date for a while, until his wife became sick and later passed away in 2013.  This man seemed to dwindle and distance himself from the church as a result of the experience.

When I was with Elder Zwingli, we had the prompting to call him and he accepted us back into his life.  We were able to talk about temples and the possibility of being sealed to our spouses for eternity.  We challenged him to be baptized and prepare to enter the temple next year to be sealed to his wife and family for time and all eternity.  HE ACCEPTED.  Elder Hall and I were just jumping for joy!

It was a good week!  It has been great to serve with Elder Hall so far.

This week had some hard turns as well though.  We had a number of investigators who are scheduled to be baptized in the next couple weeks not show up to church or read from the Book of Mormon.  We also had to let go of some investigators that have been meeting with the missionaries for YEARS, but are just refusing to make some steps.  It was a great week for teaching, but hard for us to see some of these people not doing their part.  I am sure the Lord has blessings in store for us though!

We are having fun and making the most of our time here as missionaries.  We have seen miracles on miracles and I am just so grateful for all the blessings I have received.  Although the time is flying by super fast, I know that each little experience I have is for my benefit and will be a foundation for my life.  I couldn't be more grateful for my mission.

Have a wonderful week everyone and don't forget to smile!

Hungary Week 86

Hey everyone,

This has been one to remember.  I received my new missionary and we kicked off our transfer very strong!  His name is Elder Hall and he is from Boise Idaho.  He is about 6'5 and a HUGE basketball player.  He came out ready to go and we have been working hard since minute one!

The first day and a half was the funniest part of our transfer thus far.  We quickly headed back to the apartment, threw down Elder Halls stuff, planned a few lessons and got to work!  We had around 10 programs in the first day and a half at the end of the day, he said, "I had no idea I was called to Mexico!"  The work is just booming and moving forward at a rapid rate!

By Saturday, we were able to get out and start doing some real tracting.  We were walking down a sunny street and I told Elder Hall to start up one of our tracting approaches.  He looked at me and said that he didn't know what to say.  I just told him, "When in doubt, tell them you are new."  

At the first door we knocked after saying that, an older woman came out and asked what she could help with.  Elder Hall just looked at her with a smirk and mumbled something.  She looked at him in a funny way and he just says, "új vagyok (I'm new)."  She laughed and he just kept it going with questions.  After he finished what he knew to say he looked at me.  I explained who we were and asked if we could come in.  She smiled and invited us in.  

I don't have much time to share, but I am just so grateful for my mission.  I am so grateful to have had seen the miracles I have.  I know there is only more on the way!

Sok szeretettel,

Elder Jake Nelson

Hungary Week 85

Hey everyone!

Well, I have officially started my last transfer.  It feels so weird!  At times I still feel like I just gotten here, but at others I can hardly remember what life is like at home.  All I know is that I want to give this last transfer my everything.  I am training, so hopefully I can start my new missionary off with an absolute wonderland of missionary work that he will hold as a standard for the rest of his mission.  I just can't wait for the miracles we will see together!

I am so grateful for the wonderful zone conference we had.  We had a member of the 70, Elder Timothy Dyches come out.  He is the former mission president of the Portland, Oregon mission!  It was awesome to make the connections we were able to.

Going into the conference, I was doing a lot of reflecting on my mission and I looked back and still look back with a smile.  I have no regrets.  What touched me most was after the zone conference when I thanked Elder Dyches.  He looked at me with a smile and said, "I wish you could have served in the Portland mission!" 

This experience provoked a chain of memories.  The first experience I thought of is when President Teixeira, the Europe area president, came up to me after mission leadership council a few months ago.  He came up to me and talked to me about my ambitions as a missionary and my after mission plans.  He placed his arm on my shoulder and said, "You are doing a great job."

I even had a similar experience during PEC this last weekend.  Branch President Gonda looked down at our progress record and said, "Thank you Elders for your diligent service.  Elder Nelson, I extend a special thanks to you for bringing the change you have to Érd and the missionary work.  You are a wonderful missionary."

I just know the Lord has blessed me so much throughout my time as a missionary.  The reason I have no regrets is because I have held true to myself, God and His commandments since day one.  I have not been perfect, but the Lord sees me and my efforts.  He sees my love for Him and He has blessed me more than I could have even dreamed. 

Elder Zwingli and I finished this last week VERY strong.  We were able to make some huge miracles, finishing the week with FAMILIES at church.  We were just smiling ear to ear due to the plethora of amazing experiences.  I am just so grateful for the mission.  I can't even begin to express how happy I am.  It's rough now because now I have to think about stuff outside of the mission!  Schooling, career and life after the mission.  It is going to be rough jumping back into life, but I know that the Lord is shaping me into the man I need to be through my mission.   

Life is awesome and don't forget to smile everyone!  

Sok szeretettel,

Elder Jake Nelson

Hungary Week 84

YAY!

This week was so great.  I just love being a missionary and seeing miracles.  I just am so grateful for all my opportunities and blessings.  This last week, we set 3 new baptismal dates, worked VERY hard, I had an amazing birthday and I just saw blessings upon blessings.

I don't have much time because we have so much going on and my P-day is shortened because I am going back to Dunaújváros for some baptisms this weekend, but I will share as much as I can!

We had some amazing programs this last week, but one of the biggest miracles happened yesterday.  When I first got here to Érd, I called a young mother that met with the missionaries a while ago, but fell away.  We tried to pull a meeting together for a while and just yesterday we were finally able to meet.  

We met her little 10 year old some and sat down to hear her story.  She fell into depression and just a bad crowd in 2012 and her life simply fell apart.  We talked to her about the happiness the gospel brings and a smile was brought to her face.  We asked if she felt the spirit as we spoke and she said that a peace was finally in her heart.  We bore testimony about the power of change and challenged her to baptism on April 5thand she was excited to accept.  AMAZING!

I also had so many birthday wonders.  We had 7 planned programs on it and I got 2 cakes!  We were fed lunch by an amazing member named Anikó and my English class made me a cake!  A few English class students went behind the pulpit to light the sparkler which turned out to be closer to a flare!  It was so funny!

Last Monday we were in Budapest as well.  It was so nice to be with the other missionaries!  I have a lot of friends up there right now, so a few of the missionaries took us up to the Buda castle and the Gringos Amigos, a Mexican restaurant.  There, they bought me a brownie and put birthday candles in it!  I just feel grateful.  Life is good!

Transfers are coming up next week.  This is my last big transfer.  Super weird how fast time flies.  

Life is good and miracles are coming.  There is a lot happening this next week.  We will see baptisms, Elder Dyches of the 70 and we are going to see the Atonement at work with our investigators!  

Smile this week everyone!  Life is good!

Elder Jake Nelson

Hungary Week 83

HEY!

This week was absolutely epic!  We saw a bunch of miracles and I am so grateful for each and every moment I have here!  I don't have too much time to share my miracles, but I have two amazing stories to share.

The first, Zs.  Zs is an amazing girl that we met on Tuesday.  On Monday night I heard yelling outside of our apartment building at 10:45, so I investigated of course!  I opened the window to watch an angry ex-husband throwing rocks and scream at his ex-wife.  The ex-wife opened the window and called for the police and the guy fled. 

The next day, I had the feeling to tract in that building and we found an amazing girl.  She is 26 years old and we woke her up tracting at 10 in the morning.  She told us to come back in 10 minutes, so we did!  After sitting down, she opened up and expressed how grateful she was that we were there because she had a dream about us!  The next day we went back and taught the restoration and invited her to be baptism on April 12th and she seemed super open!

The next story takes place on Wednesday!  We taught English class and there was a new guy that came.  He was 27 years old and was intensely listening as I shared the spiritual message.  After class, he came up to me and asked to meet.

On Friday he shared his life story full of mistakes and wrong paths.  At the end of his High school career, he got into drugs and never finished.  He came to English class because he is trying to turn his life around.  We met and bore testimony of the power of Christ's Atonement and invited him to be baptized.  Our friend M is going to be baptized on April 12th.  I LOVE MY MISSION!

Last note, God finally answered my prayers more firmly in regards to what I need to do after my mission for studies.  I have been planning for the past 4 years to become a surgeon.  I always felt it would be amazing, but I never felt a confirmation.  This last week I thought of all my experiences throughout my mission and life.  I thought of the irony that I have always been sent to a struggling area or a weakened companion and then it dawned on me!  I need to become a psychologist.  This was something I never expected, but the Lord seemed very insistent in pursuing this course.

Now that I received this amazing answer, it makes me want to work even harder!  The Lord has blessed me so much throughout my mission, I just can't wait for the answers He has yet to give me as I continue in this work with all my heart, might, mind and strength.  

I LOVE LIFE!!!! Smile : )

Elder Jake Nelson

Hungary Week 82

EPIC WEEK!

We saw so many miracles.  The Lord really knows what we need.  We just need to trust in Him and His will.  Coming to Érd was a little confusing for me, but I know that there are people here that I need to help.

When I came here on Wednesday, I was informed that we had 2 progressing investigators.  Well, those 2 amazing people were baptized this last weekend!  B and P were just glowing as they were baptized.  Although I never even had a program with B, she asked if I would confirm her on Sunday.  I still can't help but smile thinking about them and our experience.  It was so special!

So, with those 2 investigators being baptized, we had the work here reset!  Wednesday, I heard about the situation and Elder Zwingli and I got out and got to work.  We just drove ourselves into the ground working overtime with our hearts full of prayer and with a little fast thrown in.  In 4 days, we found 13 new investigators!  The Lord heard our prayers.

We brought our progress record to church on Sunday and the branch lit up with joy and we could see their excitement!  They were all raving that this is the time they had been praying for.  They were excited about MISSIONARY WORK.  I couldn't help but smile and know that the Lord put me here for a reason.  The Lord really does answer prayers and knows best.   We just need to learn to trust a little more in His almighty hand.

My email is short this week, but it is because there is too much to do!  My time is running out as a missionary and I need to seize the moment.  I just can't wait to share the miracles we see next week. 

Smile this week everyone!  Make a miracle and be a miracle in someone else s life.  

Sok szeretettel,

Elder Jake Nelson

Hungary Week 81

WOW,

I was blindsided again by transfers!  I am leaving Dunaújváros and moving to a smaller city right outside of Budapest called Érd.  I am going there to get to know the area for a month, so I can get a new mission in mid March.  The only hard thing is that this is just like when I left Szeged, we went from pretty slow work, to 12 baptismal dates and I left right before many baptisms.  Here, as of the weekend, we have 13 baptismal dates and we are planning on having 4-6 baptisms on the 15th of March.  It is just hard to leave right before seeing their miracle of baptism and the results of all the hard work.  I am sure the Lord has a plan for me though.

This last week, we had stellar experiences.  Our days were full of adventure, plannings for zone training, zone trainings in Székesfehérvár and Pécs, a lot of programs, baptismal dates, miracles and joy.

In our zone trainings, we were able to focus mainly on two points:
1. What a successful missionary is
2. How to invite people to make one of the biggest changes in their lives, BAPTISM

We were able to use the experiences of all the people I have been able to split within the past couple weeks because with Elders Ralph, McCurdy and Brown, we set someone on baptismal date!  Elder Ralph just found the person who is on baptismal date, but we were challenging baptism the whole time we were together.  It was awesome to get the missionaries involved and have them share their experiences changing the lives of those they teach.  They all just seemed to glow!

At the end of the training, we challenged two things:
1. Watch the German baptismal challenge everyday for a week (a little clip from the Preach My Gospel DVDs)
2. To follow the 1-2-3 steps to conversion (1st program-contact the person and get to know them, 2nd program-soft baptismal challenge, 3rd program-baptismal date (Latest))

Miracles will come from this!

I also split with Elder McCurdy, the district leader in Pécs.  We were able to talk about EVERYTHING (goals, dreams, challenges, life, etc.).  It was just amazing because we were able to be EXTREMELY effective, set a baptismal date, have a bunch of programs and find some amazing people.

We met this HILARIOUS woman while tracting.  I told her that we brought some questions to ask everyone and asked a couple.  We talked about her religious background and what makes her happy and then she saw our name tags.  She flipped out and asked if we weren't Hungarian.  I broke into to English and asked, "Do you speak English?"  She just started flipping out with excitement, then went off on how she lived in Canada.  She asked if we could help her practice English and then she said, "There isn't much difference between Canadian and American English right?"  I then said, "Not too big of a difference, eh (Like a Canadian)."  She then laughed and said, "YEAH! F**king eh!"  Elder McCurdy and I couldn't help but burst out in laughter.  I haven't heard someone properly pronounce an English cuss word in a LONG TIME.  She was amazing though and we are going back to meet her family soon!

The work is just going fantastically.  People are excited to get baptized and we are seeing miracles on top of miracles.  I am going to miss Dunaújváros, but I know that it is going to be a great last weekend for Elder Jones.  His last weekend as a missionary will be a weekend full of baptisms and miracles; I hope I can come back for it.

I LOVE MY MISSION

Elder Jake Nelson