October 24, 2016--Week 63

Hey Everyone,

This week has been SO cool! So many amazing things have happened and this is the coolest area I have ever been in. Jersey City is amazing. There are so many people to talk to so the time spent in between talking to people is like 0.5 seconds and we can easily teach like 7-8 lessons a day and find like 4-5 new people every day. So I will spare you the details on all of the contacting and finding, but I love it here. This is going to be a blast. 

Also my new companion Elder Merritt is so awesome. He is such a hard worker and is pretty much go, go, go at like 150% all day every day. It is so great. We get along really well and I can already tell that he is going to probably be my favorite companion that I have had this far. We have pretty much been skipping lunch and dinner every night and just eating at like 7:00 a.m. before studies and at 9:30 p.m. We just take a water bottle and a few protein bars and go at it all day. It's so awesome. Also we are running every morning. He is the first companion who I have had who will go running with me and so that is super great. We pretty much fast walk or run everywhere we go all day every day too so i am going to be in really good shape. 

We have some awesome people who we are working with, but I don't have time to type about them. I will try next week, but I am so happy to be here. 

I love you all and hope you have a great week!
-Elder Nickerl

October 17, 2016--Week 62

Hey Everyone,

Well this week was transfers and after a long time of being here in Toms River I'm off to a new area. It was pretty hard to say goodbye to a lot of people yesterday and it will be very hard to say goodbye to a few more tonight, but I am quite excited to go. I love the people here, but I do feel like I have done and learned what I came to Toms River for and so I am ready to go. 

My new area will be in Jersey City, which I know nothing about at all. But I think it is a walking area which is awesome. I don’t like being in a car and I am super excited to go there and walk. It's a super small area and my new companion is Elder Merritt. He came out about 3 months ago and just got done training. I have never met him and know nothing about him, but from talking to him on the phone last night he seems pretty chill so I am excited to go work with him. 

Other than the transfer news, we had a lot of really cool miracles this week happen so I will just share a few. We got a call on Thursday from a lady in a different ward and she told us that her friend and two kids would be coming to church this Sunday and wanted us to meet her outside beforehand. And she actually came with both of her kids! She loved it and is coming back and we are going to start teaching her. Or these elders here are... :) The other pretty cool thing was that we got a solid member referral last night. That is the first time I have ever gotten a referral when I asked for one during my mission and so that was pretty much another miracle. The sister in the ward is going to call them and we are following up on Tuesday (or these elders are)... :) 

I feel very good about my time here in Toms River and I feel like I gave it everything I had and I am very pleased with the progress that the Lord has allowed me to be a part of in this area. It is almost a totally different area than when I came here and I got to finish up my time here with another talk yesterday bringing my total number of talks given in my life to 17. I think when I gave four talks while I was a deacon it was an indicator of the number of talks I would give in my life. I love giving them though. Yesterday I spoke on Family History and I feel it went really well (half of the room was tearing up so I hope that meant it was good). I really do have a testimony of family history. I have learned how to do it here and as I was sharing the blessings that have come into my life as a result, they are almost innumerable.  I am so thankful for the opportunity to have learned to do it here so that I can go home and do it for the rest of my life. 

Anyways, I gotta run, but I love you all, thanks for your prayers and support!

-Elder Nickerl

P.S.  I finally found a railroad to take my missionary railroad photos!

October 10, 2016--Week 61

Hey everyone,

Wow this week went by fast! I can't believe it. We had a great time and went on exchanges with the Zone Leaders this week as well. We also had zone conference. I learned a lot about accountability and being accountable for the ways that we spend our time. I know that as we spend our time always trying to do not just good things, but the better and best as well, we can bring about miracles. 

I love you all and have a great week!
-Elder Nickerl

October 3, 2016--Week 60