Elder Nelson's Companions

Area: Érd
Elders Sterri & Hall - May 5 to May 22, 2014
Elder Hall - March 19,2014 to May 5, 2014
Elder Zwingli - Feb. 19 to March 19,2014
Area: Dunaújváros (Zone Leader)
Elder Jones - October 23 to Feb. 19, 2014
Area: Szeged (Zone Leader)
Elder Miller - July 31 to October 23, 2013
Elder Bracken - June 19 to July 31, 2013
Area: Pècs
Elder Bennet - May 8 to June 19, 2013
Area: Szombathely
Elder Brown - March 26 to May 8, 2013
Elder Cutler - Feb. 20 to March 26, 2013
Elder Gould - Jan. 16 to Feb. 20, 2013
Area:Veszprém
Elder Forsyth - Dec. 5 to Jan. 16, 2013
Elder Bowen - Sep. 12 to Dec. 5, 2012
Elder Knight - July 31 to Sep. 9, 2012
MTC
Elder Gould - May 16 to July 30, 2012

Last Week in Hungary

Dear everyone,

Words cannot even begin to describe what I am thinking and feeling right now.  It is the weirdest feeling to know that 2 years has just flown by and it only feels like a few seconds.  All I can say is that I am so grateful.  SO SO grateful.

My last week was nothing but miracles.  I was able to baptize K, an amazing girl that Elder Hall and I met with at the beginning of our time together.  She was glowing and as I pulled her out of the water, her face just lit up with a beautiful smile.  She got dressed, headed upstairs and said to us all, "Can we do it again?!"  It was a beautiful moment.

We worked hard, Elders Sterri and Hall, along with me and we made some amazing memories.  We had a little farewell party for me at English class and on Sunday after the meetings, the Érd branch surprised me with a going away party.  They gave me the gifts and I got a little teary eyed when the entire primary came up to me with hugs, just asking me not to go.  

As hard as it is, I am just so grateful to know that I have given all my heart to these people.  I am going home with no regrets and with the knowledge that I became the man that the Lord needed me to be.  I will miss this people though.

I will miss their hearts and their wonderful spirits.  This really is a small piece of heaven and I know the Lord called me here for these people.  I was able to call an investigator I baptized a year ago to say goodbye and she just lit up when my voice came on the line.  At the end of our conversation, with a shaky voice, she told me that if all I did while I was here was find her, that my mission was worth it.  

The mission is anything and everything you make it.  If you spend your mission chasing your dreams, you will wake up one day to realize that you have been living your dreams all along.  The mission is a miracle and has given me so much.  Words cannot describe the gratitude I feel for my mission.

To finish, I would like to bear my testimony that I know that Christ is our savior.  He is the key to happiness and has made happiness possible through His church.  This is His kingdom on the earth today and if we become those who practice their faith, we will be so grateful and will never be disappointed.  We will receive all the blessings that our Heavenly Father is just waiting to give us.  

I have a strong testimony of obedience.  Through obedience to the laws and ordinances of the gospel, we slowly unlock the door to happiness through the blessings of our Father.  

I also have a testimony of laughing.  Obedience, the gospel of Christ and the Plan of Salvation are all meant to lead us to an endless fountain of joy.  If we are living the gospel, the evidence thereof will be the joy in our heart and the smile on our faces.  If we have not simply gone through the movements, but have become who the Lord can make us, we will be exposed to an uncontrollable smile and bottomless laughter.  

In these past 2 years, I have not only been a missionary, but I have become.  As I am now, I have walked in my Saviors shoes in word and deed.

The church is true.  This is His work.  I LOVE MY MISSION!

Sok szeretettel,

Elder Jake Nelson

Hungary Week 93

Hey everyone!

I will keep this short because we skyped with our families yesterday, but I wanted to share some miracles we experienced this last week with our new companion, Elder Sterri.

First of all, I haven't laughed as hard as I have in the past couple days in my entire life!  It has been such an entertaining ride!  We have been throwing ourselves in the work and through a chain of miracles, we found 13 new investigators this last week and 4 of them accepted baptismal dates.  I won't see these baptisms to the end, but it is just such an amazing feeling going all the way to the end.  There is no better way to go out.

One of our new baptismal dates has such a cool story as well!  I love finding on public transportation finding and the other day, I saw a 30 year old woman studying dentistry on the train.  I just sat next to her and told her about our missionary lifestyle and English class and then, she had to hurry off the train.  Before leaving, I gave her a flier with our phone number on it.

She called later and we set up!  She is just enthralled with the gospel, it has been so great.  The night we gave her a Book of Mormon, we called her later and she was already through the beginning of the 1st Nephi.  MIRACLES!

There was many other things that happened, including Stake Conference when I saw all of my old branches that I served in, but it was just an awesome feeling to know that I gave my mission my all.  There were just countless church members coming up to say goodbye to me and I just felt so grateful for my mission.  I am going home soon, but with no regrets.  

Life is wonderful and I will make this week count!  Smile this week everyone!

Sok szeretettel,

Elder Jake Nelson

Hungary Week 92

MIRACLES!

SO I have some awesome news.  We received a new companion for the last 2 weeks of my mission.  President felt prompted to send him out here for my last couple weeks, so I am excited to be serving with Elders Sterri and Hall.  I knew him from before because I was a zone leader for a bit, so I am sure that we will just see even more miracles!

This last week we had a beautiful baptism.  S was an answer to our fasting and prayer.  She just fell into our lap after meeting with the missionaries in Budapest for a while.  She was just glowing!  We were able to meet with her mother already as well and she came out to support her daughter at the baptism.  It was really a cool experience!  

We have just been working so hard, all the way to the very last moments.  While tracting this last week and by working through our current investigators, we are starting to teach families and just some amazingly prepared people.  I know that the work we are doing now will not just last for these next few weeks, but for a long time to come.  YAY MIRACLES!

My funny story for the week comes from my splits on Friday with Elder Dellenbach.  After meeting with one of our investigators in a retirement home,, we realized that it started raining BUCKETS outside.  It was so ridiculous.  We were determined to make it to our next program though, so we sprinted through the rain for a mile or two.  We were soaked, making a good memory and split.

Sorry for the short email this week, but my time is running out!  I have to make these last 2 weeks count!  All I can do is smile!

Hungary Week 90

Hey everyone!  

So this will be my shortest email yet, but it is because things are going so well here!   It was awesome to see the branch pushing the work forward as we saw 13 investigators at church.  Half of those people were brought as referrals from the members.  It was just such a wonderful feeling to see the chapel full of people.  I just can't even describe the feeling it brought to our hearts.  

We had a wonderful woman who was an investigator from Budapest come out to Érd this last weekend.  She is closer to us here in Érd and the spirit touched her heart.  She decided to push forward with her previously set goal of being baptized on May 3rd, but now it will be into our branch.  The Lord really does make miracles.  We were praying to find that person that needed this branch and that the branch needed and He just placed her in our path!

The church is true and miracles happen!  Easter was a HUGE miracle, but I will save the story for next week!

Smile this week!

Elder Jake Nelson

Hungary Week 89

Hey everyone! 

It has been quite a week to remember.  It has been one that has had its ups and downs.  We, as a companionship, took the time to center our efforts more on the Savior and His will.  We strived to involve Him more in our finding and teaching.  The crowning moment was on Sunday as we invited many church members to fast with us for the hastening of the missionary work here in Érd.  On Sunday, the Lord answered our prayers and we saw 7 investigators at church and nearly all of them were in tears at one point or another during our testimony meeting.  We have decided to keep the spirit of the fast and continue to fast every Sunday until we see our first baptism together.  It is going to be wonderful!

Elder Hall and I also did all we could to improve whether in obedience, intentions, goals and many other aspects.  It was a humble experience seeing the change the Lord brings into our lives due to obedience and diligence.  We were able to witness in church the announcement of one of our investigators baptism.  He made the decision after sacrament meeting and during gospel principles; he shared his thoughts on the gospel of Jesus Christ and told the class that he is going to be baptized.  

Outside of that, we had the opportunity to have one of our investigators we recently put on baptismal date share her testimony with us as we walked her home after family home evening.  She asked us how we are going to have family home evening after I leave and I simply told her that she will be able to receive callings to hold activities like this.  We helped her see the vision that our goal is to have the members supporting the other members, not just the missionaries.  She sounded very excited!

It has just been a huge testimony builder for me to see the miracles I have. I am just so grateful for my mission; it is just going by way too fast.  I will trust in the Lord though.  He really does know best.

On a sad note, I felt the prompting to stop my work out before finishing today and while walking back to our apartment, we ran into a friend of one of our baptismal dates.  He lived in the building next to us, but we received word that he passed away.  Elder Hall and I just didn't know what to think, but all I can say is that I am grateful that he started gaining a testimony of these things when he did.  I am so grateful for the plan of salvation.

Everything is going great; I am just trying to sprint to the end.  The Lord has blessings in store and I can't wait to receive them.  I am a blessed man!  How can I not smile at a moment like this?

Sok szeretettel,

Elder Jake Nelson

Hungary Week 88

Hey everyone!

Sorry this is a little shorter, but time is flying by too fast!  Only a month and a half left and still so much to do!  

First of all, I LOVED CONFERENCE!  It was a nice gift because I was able to watch it in Hungarian and I felt like I was watching it in English.  It was just reaffirmed to me that I was called here for a reason.  Some of the church members grabbed me after and told me that they are sad I have to go home after learning Hungarian so beautifully.  I just feel touched.  I also loved all the messages in conference as well!  I just loved how all of the speakers turned their talks back to Christ.  They clearly connected the dots back to our Savior.  That just touched my heart and helped me recognize my need to turn more fully to Christ!

This week was good.  We were able to work hard and put a man on baptismal date!  We challenged him to try the promise in "The Book of Mormon" and he received peace in his heart and mind.  He told Elder Hall and I at conference that it is true.  With the church members, we were able to teach him the "Plan of Happiness" in between sessions of conference.  It was most definitely a memory for all those who participated.

We had a rough time with some of our baptismal dates, but thanks to many prayers, we were able to re-contact most of our baptismal dates by the end of the week.  The Lord really does answer prayers.

Things with Elder Hall are going great!  He was out for a day and a half due to sickness, but I was able to set up with many of our investigators and some members due to work while he was sleeping off his sickness and today, we are treating it as a normal work day outside of emailing.  So we won't let this little sickness stop us from making this transfer amazing.  It's his first transfer and my last one, we have to make it the greatest!

This week is going to be great though.  We are going to make so many miracles and do so many great things!  I just can't wait to share them next week.  Until then, keep on smiling!

Sok szeretettel,

Elder Jake Nelson