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.

May 16, 2016--Week 40

Hey everyone,

I don't have a whole lot to report on in terms of news this week. Pretty much everyone that we found last week dropped us or the other way around so we don't really have anyone to teach still, but that is okay, we will keep trying. 

This Sunday I gave a talk in church on how living Christlike lives leads to missionary work and then I met everyone else in the ward I didn't meet last week. I think I have met them all and know them by name. I have worked using my notes and ward list to have all of their names memorized as soon as possible and I am glad I have because I feel that it will help our relationships with them. 

We are excited to have a new week here. We are going to continue to try and find people and work with the members in the ward. I am excited to be here and I am very thankful for the help from on high that I have received this week to boost my spirits in hard times. I truly have been super happy for some reason all week when I don't really feel like I have a good reason for it, but I am super happy here. I know this is because of the tender mercies of the Lord. As I have started through the Book of Mormon again, I am looking to find all of the tender mercies that Nephi points out will be there. As I have done so, I have better been able to see the hand of the Lord in my life and I am so thankful for that. 

I hope you all have a great week! Let me know if I can do anything for you.

-Elder Nickerl

May 9, 2016--Week 39

Hey everyone,

So this week was great, but let me start of by saying that I love my new area. I didn't know anything about it last week and so I had no clue what to expect, but it is a great place (Toms River, NJ). The members are awesome!  My new companion Elder Runyan is also awesome (he's about to go home this transfer) so he is very experienced and knows what he is doing.  I am learning a ton and the people in this area are super nice and friendly.  My new area has the biggest population of Jews outside of Israel (I think it is close to 60% which is cool for everything except missionary work).  I miss the Korean language and culture, but I am really excited to be here. 

As for this week, we did a fair amount of contacting and we had some solid finds and a few lessons scattered within. The coolest part of the week was finding a few teenagers here in this area this week.  We've already had our second lesson with them and they are all very interested.  It’s great to have three new investigators for us who are all young men age (which is great for this ward because there are no youth). We are super excited and think things will go really well with them. They are not the average teenagers you meet. They are very interested in finding the correct path so much so that they read the bible for fun together. When I was 15/16, I didn't do that for fun with friends. So they are super great. Their names are Nick, John, and Shaymis. Then we also met some cool people on Saturday names Bruce and Denia who are also great people. So we hope that goes well. We have return appointments with all of these people for this next week so pray that these all go through. 

As for other things:  there are no Koreans or anything relating to Korea here, so that is unfortunate. My language is going to suffer, but I speak to myself in the mirror a lot for fun and for practice. 

Also, I got to FaceTime home yesterday for Mother's Day and got to talk to the best family in the world.  

Hope you all have a great week!

-Elder Nickerl

May 2, 2016--Week 38

Hey everyone,

So this week is transfers, and I am finally transferring. I have mixed emotions about going. I am going to very Southern New Jersey in Toms River (an English area) with a companion I do not know named Elder Runyun. I hear that he is a great, hard-working missionary.  I’ll have more updates next week about the new area, but I am excited to have a new change of scenery and to go learn from an experienced missionary. I am a little bummed to leave the members here who I have come to love and I will miss the familiarity of the Korean area. Also I will miss being able to speak in Korean a lot with my companion, because something tells me Elder Runyun doesn't speak Korean.  But I really am glad for the new opportunities that I know this will bring. 

I’m sorry that I have so little time to write this week. I am also sorry that I won't be getting around to emailing people as I have to pack here and get ready to go.  I love you all and hope you have a great week!

Love, Elder Nickerl

P.S. Exchanges with Elder Gim. Pretty much the best food I have ever eaten. The meat was amazing.

April 25, 2016--Week 37

How's it going everyone?

Hope things are well for all of you! I am doing pretty good over here in Jersey. As sad as it is, this is probably going to be my last week here in the Korean area for a while, which is a bummer because this transfer things finally clicked with my Korean. Night and day difference. Yesterday at church I gave a talk and that built a lot of trust with the members and after that I got the chance to talk to a lot of them and they actually spoke in Korean to me instead of English (They usually speak in English because they thought I couldn’t understand, but that appears to be a thing of the past) and I don't really have too much trouble carrying on a conversation. I'm really excited about his because I have put A TON of effort in this transfer with Elder Jeon and we have been speaking only Korean. Also I am seeing the results of that with the Gift of Tongues in my life to learn the language that has been such a frustration for so long. And now that I am past the learning block, I will most likely be leaving next week. But who knows? :) 

Anyway, this week was pretty awesome. We went on exchanges twice. Once with the zone leaders and once with district elders. So I went on one exchange with Elder Hicks and once with Elder Trask. I learned a lot from each of them and it is always nice to be able to see missionary work done in other ways. I really love the members here in this area and truly have the desire to help instead them instead of just doing it semi-grudgingly.

     

In general this week, I just feel very blessed and I am very thankful for the many blessings I am receiving that are allowing me to work through these last few hard transfers. To me it is an ongoing testimony that God cares about us enough to make us happy. Through the hard or easy times, he is always with us cheering us up, and helping us along. I am living proof that God can use imperfect people to do his work. This week, with our branch president at dinner, he said something that really has affected me. He said (and I'm translating so excuse the paraphrased sentence), “During your mission, you are entitled to God's revelation. So when you do missionary work, use that all the time." Then he shared a story about how he would contact as a missionary. He would walk up and down streets praying to know at each driveway if he should contact that specific house and he would only spend his time doing it if he felt a yes. And I believe that is very true. When we pray in our lives for things that have eternal significance, we will ALWAYS receive the answer (if we are worthy and sincere). And this is other people's salvation and so we CAN and WILL receive the answer. He said a lot of really cool stuff that I already knew, but it really affected me that night. And I testify that we really can receive answers to our questions. We really can find true peace and happiness through our personal communication with our Father in Heaven. 

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

-Elder Nickerl

P.S.  Our Branch President took us out to eat here. It's a super good all you can eat sushi place.