November 26, 2010

Oiii Everyone!

This week was great as usual! Yesterday was Thanksgiving and we had Elder Holland come and give a Morning Devotional, it was the most amazing thing ever!! He started off by having his grandkids sing "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" to us and then he had his wife speak and she talked about how the Savior loves us sooo much. Elder Holland then stood up and just talked for a while about how amazing his wife is. It was super cool to see just how much he really loves his wife! Elder Holland is such a powerful man and an incredible speaker. He talked about how/why we help the poor and if we aren't willing to seek out the poor and assist them, then our prayers are in vain. Also how the Savior performed the Atonement on His own but luckily we don't have to serve our mission alone because we can always have His Spirit with us. It was such an amzing talk and pretty much all of the Elders and Sisters were crying the whole time. We then had Thanksgiving Lunch which was actually really good but we didn't get to eat dinner in the cafeteria so we had to make sack dinners. Then we went to a Humanitatrian Devotional and made backpacks and collected school supplies for kids in the U.S. who don't have these things. It was way cool!!! We finished off the night by having a Thankful Fireside where President Smith let the first 30 missionaries up to the microphone get to share what they are grateful for. As you can imagine there were definitely more than 30 missionaries who wanted to bear their testimonies but Pres. SMith only allowed 30. It was a way good day tho and then this morning we got to go to the Temple so that was way rad!! It is such a blessing to be able to go to the Temple every week, it will be a bummer when I get to Brazil and there is no Temple in my mission. O well. But ya, the 'massive storm' that was suppose to hit Provo this last week...well it did, we got about 1/2 inch of snow, quite the storm haha but it is getting colder here but it's definitely not as bad as a lot of Californians make it out to be. If my visa doesn't come by this next wednesday tho then I get my temporary reassignment!! I'm way pumped to hear where I will go if I do get another assignment! The MTC is great and I've put on another 6lbs but I'm ready to get down to Brazil and get skinny again!! haha love you all and give the little ones loves for me!!!!

Love,

Elder Michael Neilson

November 19, 2010

Alooha Everyone!

  This last week has been hands down the best/most spiritual week so far at the MTC!! It all started with our Tuesday night Devotional in which we got to hear From Elder Kevein W. Pearson of the 70. We were kind of bummed to hear it wasn't an apostle but this ended up being the best talk I have EVER heard in my LIFE. He talked about how we have Divine Identity and right now on our mission we are Disciples of Jesus Christ and He has called us to serve His people. I had never thought of it this way and this has definitely changed my attitude for my mission. He also talked about how it is crazy that people think that if we are exactly obedient then we will become robots and lose our personality. Instead he said that when we completely follow the rules we will turn into who the person the Lord wants us to become and that we will keep our personality. This is exactly what I needed to hear!! Earlier that day I had been thinking about what small things I could give up here in the MTC and I came up with a pretty lengthy list and came to the conclusion that I didn't want to give up any of them because 'that's not who I am'. So I heard him say this and the Sprirt testified to me of the truthfulness of this and I decided then to leave all of those things behind, to leave who I thought Michael Neilson was behind, and to become Elder Michael Neilson who the Lord wants me to be. I've never felt the Spirit as strongly in my life as I have the last few days, it's such a blessing!! O and that was super kind of the Las Flores ward to send me that care package! They are so cool!! Anyways, I gotta run but I want you all to know that I love you and am giving it my all out here and can't wait to get out to the field!!! Give the little ones loves for me!!!

Love,

Elder Michael Neilson

November 12, 2010

Hey Everyone!

  This last week was absolutely AMAZING. We had Elder Bednar come and give a devotional and his talk was soooo powerful. He talked about how the 'Answer is Always in the Doctrine' and he said that too often in the Church we seek to resolve things by using applications but he says that we first need to understand the relationship between the Doctine, Principles, and Applications. He talked about how we come to understand things and that we can only understand something when the Holy Ghost testifies to us through our hearts that it's true. He also gave 2 Apostolic Blessings, one of which talked about how thru the Atonement our capacity will enlarge so we will be able to help others, such a great thing to hear!! He then closed his talk by bearing his testimony about how he is a witness of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ!! Such a cool experience for me and everyone else here, the guy is just incredible!! Also we had really really good news this weeks because we FINALLY had some Brazil visas come and I got called up to the Travel Office where they told me that mine should be here in a month or sooner!! It was so relieving to here this and hearing this news has definitely pumped up all of the Brazillian missionaries. The language is reaaally starting to come, it is so cool to see how that works!! I'm now able to read from the Portuguese Book of Mormon and actually understand what is being said and mark scriptures based on cool things that I find! I'm way stoked to get out in the field but this last week has definitely made me realize how grateful I am for the MTC. I can see the blessings of being here such as the fact that I've put on 8 POUNDS in the last couple of weeks!! I'm getting fat! Or more like, getting closer to be normal!! haha also I've seen how much easier it is for me to recognize the promptings of the Spirit and seen how greatly that has benefitted me since being here. Also I'm so grateful for the life I had before I came to the MTC and would not have changed a thing, a lot of people say how they wished they would have prepared better, but personally, this work is hard and it keeps you busy so I'm kind of glad I had 19 years to relax and be pretty lazy at times haha but the weather here is starting to get real real cold and there is no snow on the ground so it's not even fun for it to be cold. I've realized from the one day that we did have snow that it is way rad and way fun but to have to live in it with no ocean?? no way, not me! Anyways, I love you all and hope everything is going well back home. Give the kids some loves for me!!!

 

Love,

Michael

November 5, 2010

Ola Todos!

  So this week was another AMAZING week. We had Elder Ballard come and give a devotional on Tuesday and he talked about the importance of becoming a masterful communicator and that we should gain a deep understanding of the Gospel so that we feel confident to talk about it in our everyday conversations with people. We have been sooooo lucky here because this was the third straight week that we have heard from an Apostle, definitely one of the many benefits of the MTC! Anyways the rest of the week was really solid. Me and my companion had to teach 2 more investigatorts in Portuguese and it went sooo much better than I could've hoped it would. The language is coming pretty fast and it is all because the Lord is blessing us by loosening our tongues. Then today we went to the Temple and did a session. We were in a deaf session so we got to see everything done is sign language too, it was a super cool experience, I learned so much!! Then after we did our session we decided to eat in the cafeteria in the Temple and they served FILET MIGNON!! It was so so so good and everyone in our district was way happy we made that decision. Also thanks sooo much for the bread again! My district absolutely loves it when I get a package because it almost always has food in it!! The wheat bread, cinnamon pull apart bread and cinnamon rolls are definitely the favorites and get eaten pretty quick. Anyways...I think that's all! Can't wait to hear from you soon! Give all the kids a hug and kiss for me!!!

 

Love,

Michael

Friday October 29, 2010

Hey everyone!

  This week was absolutely amazing!! Lots of stuff happened but the I'll just say some of the big points. We had Richard G. Scott come and give a devotional here, the best talk I have ever seen in person! He gave an Apostolic Blessing to the sister missionaries for protection and gave everyone else an Apostolic Blessing of the Gift of Tongues, it was incredible and I already see my Portuguese vastly improving because of it! He also bore the most powerful testimony of the Savior that I have ever heard, my whole body was just overwhelmed by the Spirit as he closed his talk by saying that he knows that Christ lives and has a glorified body and he knows this because he knows the Savior personally...it was soooo cool when he said this and we couldn't stop talking about it after the meeting. Then this morning the temple need proxies for sealings and we got to do them! It was so neat since I won't be able to be there when Lillee and William are sealed to our family, but this experience was priceless. I personally love it here in the MTC but most of the elders in our district hate it here but we are all excited to be able to get out into the field. I got to see Taylor Jones on his first day too so that was way rad! Thank you so much Mom for all the packages!! I got the one with my black cords and shirts like an hour ago so thank you again so much!!! O and for the bread too, everyone in our district loves that we have stuff to munch on during the day. And Lisa and Sean are so great for sending me some crescants, they were soo good!! Well, all is going well here so don't even spend a second worrying about me!!!

Love,

Michael

Friday October 22, 2010

Hey everyone,

  This last week has been way rad here in the MTC! It just keeps getting better everyday and my knowledge of the scriptures and Portuguese expands soooo fast, it's crazy. So this last Tuesday we had a devotional and Russell M. Nelson was the speaker, such an amazing experience! He only spoke for like 10-15 minutes (they usually speak for at least 30 mins) so that was kind of odd but it was just so cool to be in the presence of an Apostle of God. It's really funny how excited we get for devotionals too, it is really all that we have to look forward to. Me and my companion did another 'mock investigator' thing at the TRC (Training Resource Center) and it went really really well. The guy was from Sao Palo and was a member but he did a great job at asking questions that made us think. We pretty much do role play at least 3 times a day here in the MTC, usually teaching the discussions, so getting good at teaching and role playing before you get in here definitely would help a TON. Your Las Flores ward did a really good job at that with the priests I noticed so that is really cool. Mom, Thank you sooooo much for sending those packages!!! Everyone in my district was so stoked to see that one of us actually got a care package full of real food haha candy and other stuff is still really good but it's nice to get some healthy stuff every now and then. And that book with all of our family photos is my favorite!! But thanks again Mom, youre the greatest I love you so much!!! Me and my companion have to teach Sunday school this week and it's on Christlike Attributes so we are excited to be able to share our message in 2 days. The Spirit of the MTC is so incedible, this is by far the hardest and most tiring (no 2 hour naps everyday haha) work that I have ever done, but it is no question the most rewarding and spiritually refreshing thing I have ever done. Anyways...I love you all so so much and give all the little ones a big hug and kiss for me!!

Love,

Michael

Friday, October 15, 2010

Hey everyone,

So we finally got our first week down, it went really well and our district is really really close with each other. We have 13 missionaries and are crammed into this tiny room but it's fine because we don't have any annoying people. We finally got another Portuguese teacher this week too!!! We are all super happy because we were getting tired of not ever having a teacher. Today is P-day so we got to go to the temple and do a session and it was amzing, the Spirit there is so strong. We also made a point of emphasis in our district to truly have faith in the Lord that our visas will come and so we all prayed earnestly for this in the temple. It was a great experience and it was my favorite trip to the temple thus far. Besides that everything has been going really well. The work is long and hard and I was not at all prepared to be working this hard before I came here but they just keep telling us to be obedient, trust in the Lord and give it your all and everything will be just fine. The weather has been amazing this last week too, I think it's because the Lord knows I don't like cold weather so wherever I live the weather is always warm haha lets just hope I get my visa before the snow comes or I might just freeze to death. Love you all, it was so good to hear from Aunt Lisa and Aunt Arlene this week and I'd love to hear from anyone else!

Com amor,

Michael