June 27, 2016--Week 46

Hey everyone,

Sorry I have had not really had emailing time for the last few weeks. Pretty much for a very quick recap, I am still here in Toms River. I am with Elder Gibson and he was my zone leader a few transfers ago. He's a great missionary and has two more transfers so I am lucky to be able to learn from him. 

We have a lot to do in our area to make it a functioning area, but we are working super hard. We are bummed/happy because Auriel and Brandon are moving to California (they were our super progressing investigators) but it is good because they are moving with their friends who referred them to us in the first place. So they will keep with the church and it will be better for them in CA where they will get fellowshipped. But it is sad cause we can't work with them. Good news though, we found another person this week. Her name is Delaney.  We are meeting almost every day so she is progressing really fast and she has a baptismal date for July 24. We are excited! 

As for other stuff, we are busy. I love my life. Being a missionary is great and I honestly love it, but it is also the hardest thing I have ever done. I have recently taken to praying to see harder things in my life and have more trials. And let me just say, God answers our prayers :). The inspiration for this idea came from church a few weeks ago when I think it finally came to me why we need to go through trials and hard things. I am also learning that I need to be thankful for each trial and I am continuing to learn that as I ask for more, I grow so much faster. I have a testimony of our purpose on this Earth. We are here because we wanted to become like our Father in heaven. And that is no small task and requires a lot of effort. The more we mess up, the more hard things we go through, but also the more we grow. Hence the asking for more trials. I am just trusting and banking on the fact that Heavenly Father will not test us past our ability to continue on. I believe that our Savior, Jesus Christ will make the difference and until now he has for me. So I continue on believing. 

I love you all.  Your prayers on my behalf are felt and I am truly thankful for them. I hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Nickerl

P.S.  This week, we totally found a piano on the street and almost brought it to our apartment. 

June 13, 2016--Week 44

Hey everyone,

So basically last week since my companion went to his mission departing trip, I was with other missionaries and they planned a bunch of appointments during their P-Day and traded their P-Day for a different one. Because of that, I didn't have a P-Day, but that's okay cause I didn't come on a mission for P-Days. :)  But that is why I had no time. 

Today (or last night) we got transfer news. For the upcoming transfer, I am going to now be with Elder Gibson (my zone leader while I was in the Korean program) here in the same area—Toms River. I am really excited. I have been on a few exchanges with him and he is a really great missionary. I am excited to be able to learn from two missionaries back to back who know what they are doing. As for today, I also don't have a whole lot of time because we have a lot to get done with it being Elder Runyan's last day and we also have appointments.  I probably won't get to emailing everyone back personally today, but I am thankful for the emails I’ve received and am sorry I probably can't email you back with the time I have. 

This week has been pretty hard. We are meeting with the same people who are doing well, but outside that, we don't have anything really going on. We are having a hard time getting members involved and excited, and so we are doing A LOT of contacting. I really am excited to have a fresh set of ideas come into the area so that we can do something else. I am not the biggest fan of knocking doors. But all in all, I am doing well. I love it here. I am mostly glad I am not getting transferred. 

I just wanted to let you all know how much I appreciate your prayers and support. I can feel it and am truly grateful. I hope you all have a fantastic week and I will be back next week. 

-Elder Nickerl

June 6, 2016--Week 43

Hey I really have no time this week. Like at all, but I hope you all

are doing well. Have a great week!

Love,

Elder Nickerl

May 30, 2016--Week 42

Well it got hot this week....   Pretty much out of no where it got up to 90's when it was in the 50's last week. So that stinks. I hate heat especially this humid heat. I don't really have anything to report much this week in terms of new stuff. We are still meeting with the people from last week and no one new. But we did make deep fried food almost every day of this week. I don't know why I had to learn how to do that because now in the English program that is all I really do. We made orange chicken, fried chicken, fried Oreos, fried cookies and then a lot of other unhealthy things. When I run out of oil, I won't buy it again. But I did make pizza this week so that was a little more healthy. Also we made cookies for a lot of people this week and that has helped us get in people's doors all week. So I think I will keep doing that as my mission continues. (Also--to you mom--I think I make better cookies than you again) I really don't remember anything else, it has been a holiday weekend so knocking doors has been real fun. Everyone is really thrilled to see us.

I would say the highlight of my week was definitely yesterday. The sacrament was a wonderful blessing to me in my week. No matter how busy life is, it is always a wonderful opportunity we have to be able to renew our covenants from baptism and feel peace and forgiveness for all that we have done wrong throughout the week. I feel like as I have began to really focus on the Sacrament throughout the week, I have been able to overcome my weaknesses and challenges so much faster. I am so thankful for the peace the Gospel of Jesus Christ brings us in our lives and I am thankful for this opportunity to be always sharing it with others. 

I love you all, I hope you have great weeks and I will talk to you next week!

-Elder Nickerl

May 23, 2016--Week 41

Hey everyone,

So this was a week of more miracles than I can really remember. Seriously. We had things just falling into our lap. The hand of God in our timing of our days was very, very noticeable. We would spend hours walking lost to find that we come back to our car and EVERYTHING just went perfectly on timing for the rest of the day. We got to go to the temple this week too. Also we did interviews with President Taggart which was awesome. Then we got a referral from President Taggart and a couple members in New York for a couple who lives in our area who are SO prepared to hear the gospel. They are managers for Vivint and are super good friends with the Elders Quorum president in our ward. So pray for them, their names are Brandon and Auriel. Also this week we ran into a few different less active and part member families who we can start working with. Specifically please pray for Tyler and Lisa. We ran into a few others, as well. We also ran into the best friend of a member in our ward who is ready to take the missionary lessons and believes it is true already because of the members. We also got a referral from some people in the New York mission who is totally prepared and ready to take the lessons.

Basically moral of the story here, my thoughts are scattered, my week was scattered, we saw too many miracles to count/write down, and this area is blowing up. So we are super excited to be here right now. I feel great and love this work. I testify that this is the work of Jesus Christ himself. He is our Savior and because of him, all things are possible. Without him, we are nothing. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love,

Elder Nickerl

Photo #1:  A member here gave these to my companion and I this week... All of them.

Photo #2: We went to the temple too. That was a great part of the week. It started the miracles.